Esteban Ocon Joins Haas F1 Team in Refreshed 2025 Lineup

Haas will enter the 2025 Formula 1 season with a refreshed driver lineup after signing Esteban Ocon to partner Oliver Bearman on a multi-year deal.

Ocon, 27, has started 146 Grands Prix since 2016 for Manor, Force India, and Renault/Alpine, and also spent time with Mercedes—which still part-manages his career—as a junior and reserve driver.

Ocon has spent five seasons with Alpine and together they won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, and also claimed podiums in Sakhir in 2020, and in Monaco in 2023, but the team’s desire to contend regularly for leading positions has not materialized.

Alpine announced in June that Ocon will be leaving the team at the end of 2024, amid a souring of relations and upheaval within the French marque.

Ocon will now link up with Haas on a multi-year deal, alongside Bearman, marking a completely overhauled pairing for the team, which has run Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen for the past two seasons.

It will be the first time that Haas, which is seventh in this year’s Constructors’ Championship after an uptick in performance, has fielded a Grand Prix winner in one of its seats.

“It was important to me that we have a driver with a known pedigree in Formula 1, and as a grand prix winner, Esteban undoubtedly fits that brief,” Haas owner Gene Haas said. “Esteban’s proved himself in the teams he’s raced for as someone who’s continually in the mix and scoring points—it’s that continuity we’re keen to capitalize on as we look for increased performance gains on-track. We have a blend of youth and experience in our future driver line-up and I’m excited to see the results.”

Said Ocon: “I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter in my Formula 1 career and join Haas from the start of the 2025 season. I’ll be joining a very ambitious racing team, whose spirit, work ethic, and undeniable upward trajectory has really impressed me.

“I’d like to thank Gene Haas and Ayao Komatsu for their trust and support, and for our honest and fruitful discussions these last few months.”

The move brings Ocon back into a working partnership with Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, who engineered Ocon’s maiden Formula 1 test for Lotus back in 2014.

“I’ve obviously been aware of his talents for a long time and our personal history dates back to Esteban’s maiden run in a Formula 1 car—I was his race engineer that day with Lotus,” Komatsu said. “Esteban’s gone on to become an established talent in Formula 1 and of course a grand prix winner.

“The experience he brings, not just from his own talent base but also from working for a manufacturer team, will be advantageous to us in our growth as an organization. It was vital we had a driver with experience in beside Oliver Bearman next year, but Esteban’s only 27—he’s still young with a lot to prove as well. I think we have a hungry, dynamic driver pairing and I look forward to welcoming Esteban into Haas for 2025.”

Current Haas racer Hulkenberg will move to Sauber from 2025 on a multi-year deal ahead of its transition into Audi’s works team in 2026 while team-mate Magnussen’s future remains unclear.

Magnussen indicated in Hungary—after his exit from Haas was confirmed—that Formula 1 remains his priority, but openings elsewhere on the grid are now few and far between.

Haas confirmed at the British Grand Prix earlier this month that reserve driver Bearman, part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, will step up to a race seat full-time next year on a multi-season deal.

Ocon’s replacement at Alpine—which has Pierre Gasly on a multi-year contract—has not yet been determined.