Esteban Ocon to leave Haas putting F1 future in doubt

Esteban Ocon is fighting to save his Formula 1 career after the Haas team announced they would split with the Frenchman at the end of the year.

Ocon, who won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix for Alpine, joined Haas in 2025. He has been in F1 since 2016 and has also driven for the Manor and Force India teams.

There are no obvious berths for Ocon on the grid in 2027 but he insisted: “This is absolutely not the end of my Formula 1 career.”

The 30-year-old added in a statement on social media: “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.

“My immediate focus is the next race weekend. 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.”

Ocon has been outperformed by team-mate Oliver Bearman since joining forces with Haas last year.

This year, the Briton is 13th in the championship, three places and 13 points ahead of Ocon. Bearman has out-qualified Ocon 13-6 at an average advantage of 0.144 seconds.

Last year, Bearman finished 13th and Ocon 15th, separated by just three points, and in qualifying it was 18-7 at 0.175secs

Haas team principal Ayao Kumatso said: “Esteban’s 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.”