Haas has issued a statement confirming Esteban Ocon will leave the team at the end of the season.
“I’d like to thank Esteban for everything he’s contributed to the team since joining us in 2025,” said team principal Ayao Komatsu. “His professionalism and commitment have proved valuable as we continue to grow as an organisation.“Together this year we tackled the challenge of a major regulation change, where Esteban’s driving experience and inputs were significant as we’ve worked hard to develop the VF-26 across the season. There’s still plenty of racing ahead, and our focus remains on working together to maximize every opportunity through to the final race of the year.”
Ocon joined Haas from Alpine at the beginning of this season. He finished eighth for the team in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, ahead of Oliver Bearman in their other car, but trails his team mate 20 points to 7 in the championship.
In a social media post, Ocon said “I leave this project with my head held high and proud of my performances in what were not always the easiest of circumstances for various reasons and factors outside of my control.”
There are still eight rounds of the season remaining. “My immediate focus is the next race weekend,” said Ocon. “I will continue to work hard with the team, maximise every opportunity, and keep extracting every bit of performance from the car. There are still many races to go this season and, as always, I will give it my everything behind the wheel for myself and for my team.
“I am still motivated. I am still hungry. This is absolutely not the end of my Formula 1 career.”
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The 30-year-old confirmed last weekend he is a “free agent.” He said scoring the team’s first points since June showed “I can do these things, when I’ve got the same car, as what the Haas car can deliver.”
“I’ve won in every category I’ve driven,” Ocon continued. “I won in go-karts, I won a Formula Renault I won in GP3 I won the Formula 3, I won in Formula 1. I can fight out there, I’ve got what it takes.”
“I put the work out there and I don’t just sit around and think I’ve done enough, I want to do more,” he added. “But it feels good – it’s not a win but it’s pretty satisfying.”
Ocon made his F1 debut with Manor in 2016. After a brief stint at Force India he lost his drive when Lawrence Stroll purchased the team and gave Ocon’s seat to his son Lance.
Following a year testing for Mercedes, Ocon returned to F1 with Renault in 2020. The team became Alpine the following year and Ocon scored their first and, to date, only win at the Hungaroring in 2021.
Alpine announced in June 2024 that Ocon would not remain with the team the following season. The team then dropped him before the final race of the season at short notice to promote his replacement, Jack Doohan.
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Haas has not indicated who will take Ocon’s place. The Ferrari customer team is tipped to take Formula 2 points leader Rafael Camara, who like Bearman is part of the manufacturer’s young driver programme.
The team said it will make no further comment on its driver line-up for the time being. However Komatsu indicated during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend the team had made its mind up about Ocon much earlier.
“Every driver has a certain closing point in the year to decide on the option,” he said. “It just means that we haven’t decided on that option yet, but that was quite a long time ago. So his situation hasn’t really changed. We still are trying to finalise what we’re going to do for next year.”
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