While the driver market has definitively frozen for the top teams, much still needs to be decided for the midfield teams. Haas has not yet officially announced its line-up for 2027: while Oliver Bearman’s confirmation seems practically certain, the battle for the second seat is completely open.
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With Bearman, Ferrari would secure one of the two seats – according to the power unit supply agreements – but Maranello would still like to give a chance to a new rising star from the Academy. Rafael Câmara is indeed dreaming of moving to Formula 1 next season, after his immediate success in F3 in 2025 and the fight at the top for the F2 title this year (after Budapest he is 22 points behind Tsolov).
However, it will not be easy: Toyota as well (the team’s main technical partner and sponsor) and McLaren are very interested in the Haas option, respectively for Ryo Hirakawa and Leonardo Fornaroli. Although team principal Ayao Komatsu has repeatedly stated that the choice of drivers is entirely in Haas’s hands, the shortlist for the second driver narrows exclusively around these three names (barring miraculous reconsiderations about Esteban Ocon).
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TPC Test for Haas in Portugal
Komatsu emphasized that the choice will be based “exclusively on performance”. For this reason, the three drivers were tested in a test with the 2025 car in Portimão from August 26 to 28. While Fornaroli had already had the chance to test the car last June in Jerez (as did Hirakawa, who is the team’s test and third driver), for Câmara it was an absolute novelty behind the wheel of the Haas.
The Brazilian driver, after having driven on Wednesday at Mugello with the SF-25 (then handing the wheel to Beganovic and Fuoco), joined the other two in Portugal for a tour de force that could be crucial for his future.
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