Audi threatens Haas; Ferrari protégé Bearman warns: “We’re throwing it away”

The big questions surrounding the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship have been answered: Kimi Antonelli is the youngest Formula 1 champion, and Mercedes has won the Constructors’ Championship for the ninth time. And with that, we’re right into the thick of things.

Behind Mercedes, there are various battles for the best possible position, and in Formula 1 that is worth a great deal. Without going into the full details of the prize money allocation (which is extremely complicated): moving up or down a single place can easily make a difference of at least ten million dollars.

For this reason, Ferrari is desperate to secure second place ahead of McLaren (the Italians are on the verge of doing so), whilst Red Bull Racing is determined to stay ahead of McLaren (in the battle for P3, the score stands at 415:398 in RBR’s favour).

The Racing Bulls are fifth in the World Championship (with 114 points so far); this is the best-ever finish for the second Red Bull team, regardless of the name – be it Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri or the Racing Bulls.

Sixth place in the World Championship is also as good as secured by Alpine (69 points), but then things get tight: Haas are on 31 points, Audi on 28. We’ll come back to that in a moment.

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Then there’s Williams versus Aston Martin, currently 12–7 points; only a series of crazy races could change that now. Cadillac, which has yet to score any World Championship points, will finish bottom of the table.

So, Haas versus Audi: the Americans have picked up just four points in the last four races, whilst Audi have scored eleven; the trend favours the Germans.

That’s why Ferrari protégé and Haas driver Oliver Bearman warns: “I was running alongside Nico Hülkenberg for a while in Brazil, and he finished tenth in the Audi. Then, unfortunately, I had a pit stop that took 20 seconds. After that, I was stuck behind Sainz and the rest.”

“The pressure is very high at the moment; there’s a lot at stake, and I simply have a nagging suspicion that we’re on the verge of squandering our seventh place.”