{"id":19431,"date":"2024-03-18T04:29:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T08:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=19431"},"modified":"2024-03-18T04:45:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T08:45:06","slug":"f1-news-haas-undecided-on-2025-lineup-amidst-bearman-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/03\/18\/f1-news-haas-undecided-on-2025-lineup-amidst-bearman-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News: Haas undecided on 2025 lineup amidst Bearman debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Haas F1 Team have a big decision to make for next season, as the dust settles following Oliver Bearman&#8217;s brilliant F1 debut.<\/h3>\n<p>Ayao Komatsu can be very positive about their start to the 2024 season. The American outfit is currently 6th in the standings, courtesy of a brilliant P10 result from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/03\/07\/nico-hulkenberg-refreshing-komatsu-approach-is-working\/\" target=\"_self\">Nico Hulkenberg<\/a> in Saudi Arabia. However, there are still big-picture questions for Haas F1 to answer.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the winter break, Haas consistently downplayed expectations. Their newly appointed team principal, Komatsu, made clear that the VF-24 was unlikely to be competitive to start the season.<\/p>\n<p>This low profile was maintained during pre-season testing, with Hulkenberg and Magnussen focusing almost exclusively on high-fuel runs.<\/p>\n<p>However, the first race weekends in Bahrain and Jeddah seem proof that Haas is competitive. Critically, the VF-24 is able to manage its tyres over a race distance.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"G9xmZpWSScdetOj7CCUI2A\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2076458935\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'G9xmZpWSScdetOj7CCUI2A',sig:'laFVDAYb63745Ya4DKuwASRR_Lf4s_g8M371orInEf8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2076458935',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>F1 News: Haas to evaluate Oliver Bearman<\/h3>\n<p>In addition to the team&#8217;s return to competitiveness, their driver line-up is again becoming a key talking point.<\/p>\n<p>Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen worked very well to secure a vital point in round 2.<\/p>\n<p>Considering Hulkenebrg&#8217;s brilliant performances since returning last year and Magnussen&#8217;s solid start to 2024, there is no reason to be dissatisfied with their driver pairing.<\/p>\n<p>Ayao Komatsu made this clear post-race in Jeddah:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;He [Bearman] deserves a chance next year, I guess,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/f1\/news\/haas-bearman-deserves-f1-chance-but-2025-seat-not-a-given\/10586391\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he told motorsport.com.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Penalty aside, Kevin&#8217;s done fantastic today. Nico delivered as well. So how can I sit here and say, [Bearman will be] our driver for next year?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Based on today&#8217;s performance &#8211; Nico and Kevin.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"VW7-9ksNRLVQCpH3Kd3M6Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2075115376\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'VW7-9ksNRLVQCpH3Kd3M6Q',sig:'QTPit-uAceRKHHjjKE0TGl4uWBYnQh3UC7HuE8M2Xgs=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2075115376',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Of course, this post-race reaction should not be taken as detrimental to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/03\/08\/carlos-sainz-to-miss-saudi-gp-replaced-by-oliver-bearman\/\" target=\"_self\">Oliver Bearman&#8217;s F1<\/a> future.<\/p>\n<p>After all, regardless of what Haas is planning for 2025, anything other than support for their drivers in Jeddah &#8211; given the context of their first points &#8211; would have been harsh.<\/p>\n<p>In this sense, these comments from Ayao Komatsu are relatively standard.<\/p>\n<p>For the Ferrari academy driver, there is little doubt across the paddock that he can compete at a high level in Formula 1.<\/p>\n<p>On paper, Nico Hulkenberg is still a viable option for Sauber &#8211; a realistic move which could make a 2025 promotion for Bearman viable.<\/p>\n<p>Despite this ideal scenario, several dominos still need to fall to open the F1 door for the British star.<\/p>\n<p>This is not necessarily a cause for concern but, instead, a reminder that seats are extremely limited in modern F1.<\/p>\n<p>Excluding the arrival of an 11th team (a scenario that seems doubtful at best), fine margins will determine whether young prospects can begin to have more opportunities on the grid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Haas F1 Team have a big decision to make for next season, as the dust settles following Oliver Bearman&#8217;s brilliant F1 debut. Ayao Komatsu can be very positive about their start to the 2024 season. The American outfit is currently 6th in the standings, courtesy of a brilliant P10 result from Nico Hulkenberg in Saudi [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":19432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[68,23,346,300,1758,2248],"class_list":["post-19431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-haas","tag-haas-f1","tag-oliver-bearman","tag-vf-24"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}