Lewis Hamilton’s time at Ferrari has been bitterly disappointing. Despite the fanfare that came with his arrival from Mercedes, it’s been a disastrous debut season for the seven-time world champion who has gone without a Ferrari podium for 21 races.

His latest addition to that unwanted record occurred this past Sunday when he retired from the Brazilian Grand Prix after colliding with Franco Colapinto. With just three races remaining in the 2025 season, the 40-year-old may be just one position behind team-mate Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ standings, but the gap between them is a whopping 66 points.

Leclerc also retired from the race in Sao Paulo, rounding out what was a horror weekend for the Italian team. The drivers also had to contend with brutal comments from Ferrari’s president John Elkann who told Hamilton and Leclerc to “talk less and focus on driving”.

“If we look at the Formula 1 championship, we can say that our mechanics are winning the championship with their performance and everything they’ve done on the pit stops,” he said. “If we look at our engineers, there’s no doubt that the car has improved. If we look at the rest, it’s not up to par. And we certainly have drivers for whom it’s important that they focus on driving and talk less.”

Hamilton was in an expectedly gloomy mood after the race, as he sounded off on what he described as a “nightmare” season when speaking to Sky F1. He said: “I mean this is a nightmare. Been living here for a while. Definitely between the dream of driving for this amazing team and then the nightmare of the results that we’ve had, the ups and downs, it’s challenging.”

While the Briton is expected to return next season, should he decide to call it a day on what has been a historic racing career, Express Sport speculate on who could be chosen to step up to the legendary Ferrari seat should he make a surprise departure from the team.

Ollie Bearman

The overwhelming name that comes to mind when discussing who would replace Hamilton at Ferrari is none other than Ollie Bearman. Having been a member of Ferrari’s Driving Academy since 2022, the Haas driver even raced for the Italian team in 2024 when filling in for Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he finished seventh in his debut F1 race.

The 20-year-old has enjoyed an impressive debut campaign with Haas where he sits 11th in the Drivers’ Championship standings and just four points away from leapfrogging Isack Hadjar and Nico Hulkenberg into ninth. F1 journalist Ted Kravitz earmarked Bearman as the future of Ferrari and said taking over Hamilton’s seat is a question of when, not if.

While Haas have insisted that Bearman will remain at the team until 2027, recent performances where he’s scored points in each of the last four races could leave Ferrari in a position where they attempt to gain his services earlier than expected.

Carlos Sainz

In what would be a miraculous turn-around for Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard has been tipped to make a stunning return to Ferrari should the Italian team and Hamilton reach an agreement to rip up the Brit’s agreement ahead of the 2026 season.

It was Sainz who was forced to relinquish his seat last year for Hamilton’s arrival but given how disastrous the 40-year-old’s debut campaign at Ferrari has been, the return of Sainz is one that could come to fruition, according to former F1 driver and FIA Steward Johnny Herbert.

While the exact length of Hamilton’s Ferrari contract is not known, it was announced as a “multi-year” deal. But, Herbert believes it’s a deal that could end and it’s Sainz that would be the perfect choice to replace the Brit given his ability to race against Leclerc – a challenge Hamilton has found difficult this season.

Herbert said: “I don’t think it would be Verstappen [chosen to replace Hamilton]. It could be one of the younger drivers, I guess. But I saw a little interview with Carlos Sainz and when asked if he would go back to Ferrari, he replied: ‘Yeah, maybe!’

“Carlos was doing an absolutely brilliant job and was really keeping Charles under control. He’s still young. He’s still doing a good job, even if he’s struggling with Williams a bit. But we know how good he was when he was at Ferrari.”