Prior to Oliver Bearman, the last time a driver raced with two different teams in one year was when George Russell replaced Lewis Hamilton – who was suffering from COVID-19 – at the Sakhir GP after being drafted from his Williams seat.
Bearman has climbed behind the wheels of both the Ferrari and the Haas during the 2024 season as part of his reserve driver role. The then-18-year-old made his F1 debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with Ferrari after Carlos Sainz became unwell with appendicitis. As Ferrari’s reserve driver he was set to compete in the Formula 2 race at the event, taking pole in F2 before his last-minute F1 call-up. His seventh-place finish earned him his first career F1 points, and placed him tenth in the standings at the time.
Six months later he was back in an F1 car when he was called in to replace Kevin Magnussen at the Azerbaijan GP. The Dane had been handed a one-race ban after acquiring 12 penalty points on his superlicence, making him the first driver in F1 history to receive the punishment. Bearman pulled off another impressive display in Baku, finishing tenth and scoring one further career point. After crossing the line, the 19-year-old became the first driver to have scored points for two different teams in his first two races.
Bearman has joined a small group of drivers who have raced for two teams in one season.
Although it is rare, a number of drivers have made a mid-season switch - with some teams even forcing a driver switch. Here’s everything to know about drivers who have raced for multiple teams in one year.
F1 world champions who have switched teams mid-season
Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso to Red Bull - 2016
Max Verstappen had completed just four races of his second F1 season when he was moved from Toro Rosso to Red Bull in 2016. The Dutchman was promoted following a difficult start to the season from Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat. After an incident at the start of the Russian GP where Kvyat had crashed into the rear of Sebastian Vettel, the Russian driver was demoted - although team principal Christian Horner claimed this was not the sole reason for the decision.
Verstappen made his Red Bull debut at the 2016 Spanish GP and impressively took the win, aided by both the Mercedes drivers - Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg - crashing into each other on the first lap. This was the only race of the season which didn’t feature a Mercedes driver on the podium. In taking his win, Verstappen became the youngest ever race winner, the youngest driver to take a podium finish and the youngest to lead a lap of a race, at 18 years and 288 days old - records all taken from Sebastian Vettel who previously held them in 2008 aged 21 years and 74 days old.
The decision proved fruitful for Red Bull, who have retained Verstappen ever since. The Dutchman has claimed 61 wins, a further 48 podiums, and three drivers’ championships with the team, as well as aiding them to constructors’ championship victories in 2022 and 2023 - the team’s first since their four consecutive wins between 2010 and 2013.
Sebastian Vettel - BMW Sauber to Toro Rosso - 2007
Sebastian Vettel made his F1 debut for BMW Sauber at the 2007 United States GP when he was called up to replace Robert Kubica. The Polish driver had suffered a horrendous crash at the previous Canadian GP and although he was not badly injured, was replaced as a precaution after he was diagnosed with concussion and a sprained ankle. Vettel - who was the team’s test driver - climbed into the car for the race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and finished the race in eighth place.
He was later signed by Toro Rosso and four races after his debut, was back on the grid for the 2007 Hungarian GP. Vettel completed the final seven races of the season, although was plagued with three retirements and three non-point scoring performances. Despite qualifying 12th for the 2007 Chinese GP, Vettel was hit with a five-place grid penalty after impeding Heikki Kovalainen in qualifying. The German pulled off an impressive feat when he climbed up the grid to fourth, just missing out on a podium finish.
Michael Schumacher - Jordan to Benetton - 1991
Michael Schumacher made his debut for Jordan at the 1991 Belgian GP after Bertrand Gachot was imprisoned. The Belgian-French driver had been handed a two-month prison sentence for an altercation with a London taxi driver, causing him to miss five races before the season finale in Australia. Mercedes-Benz reportedly paid Jordan $150,000 for giving their junior driver experience, with Schumacher qualifying seventh on his debut. The good start was to be immediately undone though, as he retired on the opening lap with clutch failure.
Although he was contracted to finish the season with the team, he then signed with Benetton for the following Italian GP. Jordan applied for an injunction to stop the move but with the final contract unsigned, they lost the case and Schumacher was free to move.
He completed the final five races of the 1991 season with Benetton, taking three points finishes before retirements in the last two races. Schumacher stayed with Benetton for four more seasons, taking his first two championship victories with the team in 1994 and 1995.
F1 drivers to have competed for two teams in one season
Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly - Red Bull and Toro Rosso - 2019
Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly both raced for Red Bull and Toro Rosso during the 2019 season when Red Bull decided to swap their drivers. Gasly completed the first 12 races of the year with the senior team, whilst Albon competed for Toro Rosso. The Frenchman was sat in sixth place in the championship with 63 points,while team-mate Verstappen had scored nearly three times the points with 181. Red Bull decided during the summer break to swap their drivers, stating that they would "use the next nine races to evaluate Alex's performance" and make a "decision as to who will drive alongside Max in 2020".
Albon consistently scored more points than Gasly during the last nine races of the 2019 season - albeit in the better car - although the Toro Rosso driver took his first F1 podium at the Brazilian GP after Albon on Hamilton lost places when they made contact after the lap 70 safety car restart.
Gasly remained with the renamed AlphaTauri until the end of 2022, taking one win - the 2020 Italian GP - and a further podium at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP. Albon was dropped by Red Bull at the end of the 2020 season, demoting him to their test and reserve driver after he struggled to compete with team-mate Verstappen. Albon later signed for Williams for the following season where he has remained.
Carlos Sainz - Toro Rosso to Renault - 2017
After starting his third season with Toro Rosso (2017), Carlos Sainz revealed that it was “unlikely” that he would remain with the team for the following year. It was later announced that he would replace Jolyon Palmer at Renault in 2018, with his move brought forward to the final four races of the 2017 season. Palmer had struggled with a difficult season, taking one top-10 finish at the Singapore GP. It was that weekend that the Brit had found out he was being replaced from the United States GP onwards, revealing that he found out after his brother sent him an Autosport article, which forced him to confront Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul.
Sainz finished 2017 with Renault, although he faced two retirements and just one top-ten finish in the four races.
Giancarlo Fisichella - Force India to Ferrari - 2009
During his final season in Formula 1, Giancarlo Fisichella was competing with Force India. He scored the team’s first pole position at the 2009 Belgian GP, eventually taking second place in the race to take the team’s first points and podium finish, behind Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari.
At the race in Spa, there was growing speculation that the Italian would replace Luca Badoer, who was brought in to replace injured Felipe Massa. Badoer had struggled with the car, with Martin Brundle telling The Sunday Times that having him race was dangerous, as he had not been able to gain the necessary experience to race following a ban to further testing having been put in place. Over the two-week break between races, Fisichella confirmed he would drive for Ferrari at his home race in Italy and for the remainder of the season. Massa returned to the team at the start of 2010 and Fisichella became Ferrari’s reserve driver until he was replaced by Jules Bianchi in 2011.
Heinz-Harald Frentzen - Jordan to Prost (2001) and Arrows to Sauber (2002)
Heinz-Harald Frentzen made mid-season changes in both the 2001 and 2002 season, after an unlucky run for the German. Frentzen started the 2001 season with Jordan, describing the car after pre-season testing as the best car he’d ever driven. However, tensions began to rise when he was out-qualified by team-mate Jarno Trulli at nine out of the first 10 races. Following four retirements and pulling out of the Canadian GP due to poor health, Frentzen was fired after the German GP. Meanwhile, at Prost, Jean Alesi had a fallout with the team following the British GP, which led to his sacking from the team. Team boss Alain Prost later described the behaviour of the Frenchman as “childish”.
Alesi moved to Jordan to replace the sacked Frentzen, with the German then taking the empty Prost seat – essentially meaning the two drivers swapped seats. Frentzen faced two further retirements at the Hungarian and Italian GPs but qualified an impressive fourth at the Belgian GP, before the team collapsed due to debts of $30 million. Alesi scored his final F1 points at that Belgian GP and had three further top-ten finishes in the last five races of the 2001 season (points only being awarded to sixth at the time).
The following year Frentzen made another mid-season switch after starting the year with Arrows. Frentzen was let go from a debt-riddled Arrows after facing an uncertain future and missed the next three races whilst he looked for a seat. He was later signed to replace Massa at Sauber for the 2002 United States GP after the Brazilian was given a ten-place grid penalty for causing a collision with Pedro de la Rosa on lap 15 of the previous Italian GP. Despite the one-off appearance for the team in 2002, Frentzen then signed with Sauber for 2003, taking a podium finish at the United States GP.
Mika Salo - BAR to Ferrari - 1999
Mika Salo started the 1999 season without a seat, before being signed to BAR after Ricardo Zonta injured his foot during practice for the Brazilian GP. Zonta missed three races, allowing Salo to race. The Finn scored the team's highest result of the year when he finished seventh at the San Marino GP.
Just three races later, Schumacher broke his leg at the British GP and Salo joined Ferrari for the following six races. During his second race with the team - the German GP - Salo was leading the race before Ferrari sent the orders to allow team-mate Eddie Irvine to pass. The Northern Irish driver was locked in a championship fight with Mika Hakkinen but repaid the favour to Salo at the following race when he handed the Finn his victory trophy. Salo took one further podium finish in Monza, finishing third ahead of his team-mate.
Jarno Trulli - Minardi to Prost (1997) and Renault to Toyota (2004)
Jarno Trulli’s first mid-season team switch came during his debut season in 1997. The Italian started his career with Minardi, competing in the first seven races of the year. At the Canadian GP, Prost’s Olivier Panis broke both his legs after a high-speed crash on lap 54, which saw the race end early. Panis was unable to race for the next seven races and Trulli was brought in to compete for the team. Trulli put on an impressive display, finishing fourth at the German GP and also leading the Austrian GP, before dropping back into second and eventually retiring from an engine failure.
Trulli then joined Renault in 2002 and in 2004 out-performed his team-mate Fernando Alonso during the early stages of the year, including a third-place finish in Spain and his one career win at Monaco. However, his relationship with team boss Flavio Briatore began to strain and errors during the races began to anger the team. Trulli’s last points of the year came at the French GP despite making a mistake on the final corner, allowing Rubens Barrichello to take the final podium position and losing Renault a double home podium.
Trulli faced two retirements in his final five races with the team and was unable to finish higher than ninth in the other three. Following the German GP, Trulli announced that he would be leaving Renault at the end of the season but just two months later he was fired and was replaced with Jacques Villeneuve. Trulli was set to join Toyota in 2005 but after being fired early from Renault the Japanese team allowed him to race at the Japanese and Chinese GPs to replace Ricardo Zonta.
JJ Lehto - Benetton to Sauber - 1994
JJ Lehto was set to compete with team-mate Schumacher at Benetton for the 1994 season but injured his neck in pre-season testing. He missed the first two races of the year before getting behind the wheel for the San Marino GP. He took part in four races but was replaced again by Jos Verstappen after Benetton retested Lehto and it was decided he had not fully healed from his previous injury.
The Finn briefly returned for the Italian and Portuguese GPs after Schumacher was given a two-race ban at the British GP for over-taking Damon Hill on the formation lap. Lehto was fully released from the team following the races, which saw him sign with Sauber for the final two races of 1994 after the team were unable to get Andrea de Cesaris to continue his stand in for the injured Karl Wendlinger.
Andrea de Cesaris - Jordan and Sauber - 1994
De Cesaris started the 1994 season without a seat but found himself racing at the San Marino and European GPs after Eddie Irvine was served a three-race suspension after causing a four-car crash at the season opener in Brazil. He retired from his first race in Italy but finished just out of the podium places at the following Monaco GP.
Wendlinger was injured at the Monaco GP after losing control of the Sauber as he left the tunnel. He crashed into the barriers and was in a coma for several weeks - resulting in him not returning for the remainder of the year. De Cesaris was brought in to cover the injured Austrian for the next nine races before he was replaced by Lehto.
Roberto Moreno - Benetton to Jordan to Minardi - 1991
Roberto Moreno had joined Benetton for the final two races of the 1990 season, impressing bosses with a second-place finish during his debut race with the team. His performance earned him a seat for 1991, however he struggled to compete with team-mate Nelson Piquet and was sitting five championship places behind the fellow Brazilian. Despite finishing just behind his team-mate and fourth at the 1991 Belgian GP, he was dropped for Schumacher - who was set to make his debut with Jordan at the following race weekend.
As a result, Moreno took Schumacher’s place at Jordan but was replaced after just two races by Alex Zanardi. In an unusual turn of events - and after being replaced twice already in the season - Moreno returned to Formula 1 to compete with Minardi. The team were forced to find a driver for the final race of the year in Australia after Gianni Morbidelli was moved to Ferrari after the team fired Alain Prost after he publicly criticised the car, referring to it as a “truck”
What happens to career points if a driver changes teams mid-season?
Drivers’ and constructors’ championship points are classed as two separate entities. This means if a driver moves teams in a season they will keep their championship points, and their teams will also keep any points. A driver will then accrue additional points with their new team and the team will gain points from their new driver.
