Esteban Ocon, Alpine, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 2024

Ocon to join Bearman in all-new driver line-up at Haas for 2025

Formula 1

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Haas has confirmed its all-new driver line-up for next year. Esteban Ocon will join the team from Alpine to drive alongside the previously announced rookie Oliver Bearman.

Team principal Ayao Komatsu has a long history with Ocon, having been his race engineer when he had his first run in a Formula 1 test with Lotus (now Alpine) in Valencia 10 years ago.

“He displayed his talents back then coming off the back of strong performances in the junior categories,” said Komatsu. “He’d just won the 2014 European Formula 3 championship.

“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 organisation.”

Haas already confirmed the departures of current drivers Nico Hulkenberg, to Sauber, and Kevin Magnussen, whose 2025 plans are yet to be confirmed. Komatsu said he wanted an experienced driver to partner Bearman, who will make his debut as as a full-time driver next year.

“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,” said Komatsu. “I think we have a hungry, dynamic driver pairing and I look forward to welcoming Esteban.”

Ocon arrived in F1 with Manor in the middle of the 2016 season. He moved to Force India the following year and spent two seasons there until Lawrence Stroll purchased the team and replaced Ocon with his son Lance.

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After a year out of F1, Ocon returned with Renault, which became Alpine in 2021. He scored his first victory that year at the Hungaroring but confirmed his plans to leave earlier this year

Ocon said he was “thrilled” to join the “very ambitious” Haas team on a multi-year deal. “I’m very happy to be working with Ayao again, as he’s been a part of my debut when I first stepped into a Formula 1 car during my Lotus junior days more than ten years ago.”

Komatsu took over as Haas team principal at the beginning of the year. The team finished last in the championship but currently lies seventh in the standings. Ocon said the team has “exciting plans and clear targets for the future.”

View the current list of 2025 F1 drivers and teams

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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58 comments on “Ocon to join Bearman in all-new driver line-up at Haas for 2025”

  1. As was evident for a little while, with his Haas switch only becoming clearer & clearer as the summer progressed.
    Ultimately, the formal announcement was only a matter of time, although I assume he joins on a multi-year deal, even though the ‘multi-year’ term isn’t mentioned in this article.

  2. Worst kept secret finally confirmed.

    1. Is he out the Mercedes/Renault-Alpine stuff for long ?

      1. @jeff1s Officially out since 2020 & once this year is over, respectively.

        1. Source?

  3. Pretty solid line-up. It’s interesting to see how much better Haas has done after giving Steiner the slip. Seems like their set-up with Dallara and Ferrari had more potential. And having solid drivers like Hülkenberg helps as well.

    1. The Dolphins
      25th July 2024, 18:28

      Agree, they look to be heading in the right direction. Ocon will provide some cross-pollination of ideas coming from Alpine, a more mature/funded team (albeit a team which looks to be in shambles at the executive level)

  4. Haas went from “this is goning to be so much fun” line up to “this is going to be really painful” line up.

  5. Horrible choice.

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      25th July 2024, 9:43

      Oocn is a quick driver, and just because of some of his history with team mates shouldn’t discourage teams going for him.

      And he isn’t always an error prone driver on his part. He had one point in his f1 career when he went a full year without a single penalty point, which i think only one other driver did at the time.

      I think in a new team with a new team mate, he’s a solid choice.

      1. “some history with team mates”

        You mean every team mate?

        1. Ocon did not seem to have that many problems with Wehrlein or Ricciardo.

          Most of the criticisms seem to be coming now when we look at the relationship between Gasly and Ocon. However, it’s not as Gasly was considered to be the most friendly driver on the grid either.

          1. What? He had famously horrible relationships with Perez, Alonso and Gasly. Despite Alonso trying to work well with him and being the only reason he won in Hungary, Ocon focused more on blocking him than his own race when they were close together on the track and the very next year in Hungary, Ocon started the race by pushing Alonso to the pit wall at lights out losing them both places and then later, after their stops, Ocon focused so much on blocking Alonso he allowed Ricciardo to get by both of them. He’s a good driver, but has a horrible attitude.

            He didn’t clash with Ricciardo because Daniel crushed him and he was basically never in a position to block or crash into him. So DR and a rookie Wehrlein, he each spent one season with at the back with no one paying attention to if they got in each other’s way, isn’t a good example to point to.

            Anyway, Ocon is a good choice for getting them points, but I am sure he’ll do everything he can to not help Bearman grow as a driver. I don’t blame him for that, but Haas shouldn’t expect him to be a mentor for OB.

      2. People keep saying Ocon is really quick, but in all of his F1 years since 2017, he’s only outscored a teammate once. And while he’s sometimes been paired with tough teammates like Fernando, I wouldn’t exactly call Perez, Gasly or Ricciardo impossible to beat (if you are the talent like people say you are).

        1. Don’t forget that the only time he outscored a teammate (2022), Alonso got six DNFs against 2 by Ocon

          1. So then we have to take into account he outraced Perez in 2018 9-5, and Gasly in 2023 10-5.

            So he either beaten ALO in 2022, OR Perez and Gasly. Choose wisely.

          2. DNFs are hard to consider because they can be driver fault, not just car reliability.

          3. It was actually more and every single retirement was from the points. He had a DNS too at a track where the car was going well. And then several more times either mechanical or pit stop problem pushed him out of the points like the time in Austria he would have likely finished in the top 5 had they not cross threaded his wheel, which forced him to stop twice during a safety car. And he still came back from 16th to score points in only around 10 laps or so.

          4. @geichan

            Not a single one of those DNFs could have been blamed on Alonso. Also, this isn’t 2006 when gearboxes were fragile enough to be broken by hard driving. Almost all the failures were PU related. Not something the driver can impact these days.

          5. @gechichan * whoops

      3. pretty much, given how toxic it appears to be within Alpine atm, especially how Doohan’s son and whats his nuts last year were very critical of him personally on the broadcast, its obvious that Esteban is better off on another team where he can put that behind him. All Ocon has to do is be the driver he needs to be, and let the dice fly where they may, with all that nastyness behind him, ofcourse there are some in the scene, and about who will never let him survive it, but they don’t matter any more. Moving up.

        1. given how toxic it appears to be within Alpine atm

          I think I wrote predicting the likely atmosphere when Alpine announced the Ocon/Gasly team setup.
          I note we’re still waiting to see who Gasly won’t get on with next year.

  6. I don’t like this.
    I would prefer Bearman had been teamed up with anyone other than Ocon for his Rookie year.

    Oh well, it all makes for more interest and debate I suppose.

    1. I’m leaning the opposite direction, @nullapax. What a great opportunity to toughen Bearman up. Racing against Ocon will be a valuable experience for him in the long run. But, yes, it’s going to be a tough introduction for him in 2025 to F1. Ocon is going to make things difficult on purpose, for sure. Ocon has seen what a talent Bearman is. He will know that one way to help him beat Bearman will be to attack him psychologically while Bearman’s young and soft. But in the end, there is no doubt that Bearman will make Ocon look weak. Maybe not already in 2025 but I think so. And I can’t wait!

  7. Haas is really shooting themselves in the foot here.

    First, they let Nico go, then they brought in (too early) a kid that is massively struggling in F2 (and it’s not the car, as Kimi Antonelli leads him on points 85 vs. 34) and to top it off they brought the ‘teammate crasher’ to lead the team. Ufff, hard season incoming.

    1. It has disaster written all over it, I agree.

    2. a kid that is massively struggling in F2 (and it’s not the car, as Kimi Antonelli leads him on points 85 vs. 34)

      Ebbs and flows, how long is it since people were saying Antonelli wasn’t up to it and comparing him to Bearman?

      1. Kimi is only 17 and a rookie in F2. Quite normal to not be up to it vs. Bearman early in the season. But Ollie’s excuses are starting to fall flat this second part, he’s just nowhere in qualy or races. Being mid pack for yet another year in F2 is not screaming ‘F1 material’

    3. His F2 season is very average, but he’ll be fine in F1. It’s clear he has talent. There are drivers who did better in F1 than F2. Montoya for example.

      1. Nick T., how did Montoya do better in Formula 2 than Formula 1 when Formula 2 did not exist at the time? If you’re referring to Formula 3000, which is what he actually competed in, Monyota had more success in Formula 3000 than in Formula 1 (he finished 2nd in 1997 and won the 1998 title, whereas his highest finishing position in the WDC in Formula 1 was 3rd).

  8. Really good line up for Haas despite not a fan of Ocon like many. Haas doesn’t attract the top talent because of their recent results. Ocon brings some experience. He isn’t too old so he still has some ambition. Plus a decent metric for Bearman to sharpen his skills against. I personally don’t think we will see Ocon around much after a couple years in Haas.

  9. If Ollie starts challenging him on a regular basis by the second half of the season, it’ll be hell.

    1. +1.
      It’s only a matter of time before Ollie gets up to speed. Given the fact that he’s been well prepared with the FDA. I would say it may take 6 or 7 races then it’s chaos.

  10. Poor Bearman… He’s been paired with the most toxic driver on the grid. I just hope Vasseur is aware of this situation and backs Olie to use this experience as a learning exercise.

    Drivers like Ocon, Perez, KMag, Ricciardo, Sargeant, Zhou, Bottas, Stroll, and even Tsunoda, Gasly have had numerous opportunities to prove themselves on the grid but have consistently failed to deliver. It’s clear that they don’t bring nothing to the table anymore. Time to go and leave those seats for fresh talents.

    1. I fully agree. FIA should incorporate into the regulatory framework something to facilitate more talent coming through and force parting of the ones you listed.

    2. Quite a few names on the list are solid midfield drivers, no more, no less. If everyone at and below Ocon’s level should leave to make place for fresh talents, then the rear half of the grid would basically become F2.

      1. Yeah, while I’d like to see more drivers getting a shot than we do, I think people way overestimate the amount of talent in F2. I also think people will calm down soon because there are a lot of old to very old drivers that will all likely be gone within 3-4 seasons at most, which means combined with drivers like Zhou, Logan, Magnussen and then either Perez or Daniel all being dropped for sure, there will be a lot of seats opening up. That’s 4 seats right and then around 4 more seats in the near future. There aren’t 8 F1 worthy drivers produced by F2 in a usual three-year period. Or, at least 8 drivers who would do any better than the bottom 5 drivers in F1.

        A great framework for basically forcing more drivers to be given a shot and give us great entertainment would be if there were either two rounds or one weekend with two races where each team had to put 1 rookie alongside a current driver in the seat for either one or both of the races. Then you could see up to 20 prospects get a shot and see them judged against a current driver. It’ll never happen, but it’d be awesome. You could make them non-WCC races, score only the full-time driver, etc. That or, at very least, after the last race of the season do the same thing at the same track for minimum expense or 20 rookies in all the old F1 cars instead to see how they all go respectively in F1 cars.

    3. While I share the wish to see some old hands move on from F1, the teams have a lot of information we don’t. The guys might not be special, but they get the job done. The 2010s have spoiled us to some extent with many great talents competing at tree same time. Right now it feels more like the late 1990s, with Verstappen playing the role of Schumacher, making everyone else feel a bit the lesser for it.

    4. Poor Bearman… He’s been paired with the most toxic driver on the grid.

      I don’t think that’s accurate. I’m not convinced he’s the most toxic driver currently at Alpine.

    5. I wanted Sargeant gone by mid-season last year, but he only got equal equipment to Albon recently and in the 5-6 weekends since he’s been within a tenth of Alex every time. So, either Alex doesn’t have the pace to be in F1 either or Logan is now showing the pace Williams always wanted out of him. Either way, Williams has better options, so the seat won’t be there, unless Sainz delays at least 6 more weeks and Logan beats Alex in all 3 races during that time.

  11. ‘Ocon, a rookie and Haas’ doesn’t look like something thats even worth predicting. May as well throw an egg at a chicken. Results will vary I reckon.

  12. Terrible. Why would you want to disturb your team with him?

  13. José Lopes da Silva
    25th July 2024, 11:44

    The comments section is showing several future-Bearman-fans dreading this team mate prospect for their driver.
    Haas hired a rookie. It makes total sense to get a safe pair of hands in the other car. The article, which apparently they didn’t read, highlights that team principal Ayao Komatsu has a long history with Ocon. So, it makes even more sense.

    In Formula One, you only get to choose your team mates after you establish yourself as a Top Driver. That’s how Senna vetoed Warwick, but only after beating some other people along the way. If Bearman wants to be a future World Champion, he cannot start by complaining that his team mate is rude. Actually, it might be a great way to start.

    Mick Schumacher debuted in F1 by siding along the weakest F1 driver of the last 50 years, and yet that fact alone took him nowhere.

    1. The history with Ocon is about his first F1 test in 2014 with Team Enstone where Komatsu worked for a long time before Haas.
      However, I agree with you on everything.

    2. Ocon, a safe pair of hands?

      1. Yes, with 150ish starts and about 10 incident-DNFs it’s not even close to true that Ocon is some raging unreliable driver.

        He has been forceful at times, but he’s hardly unique.

        1. 10-incident DNFs is a lot. But they’re not just counting the incident DNFs, they’re counting all the times he blocked teammates beyond reason, all the times he made contact with a teammate and didn’t retire, incidents like Brazil last year when he messed up and then blamed another driver. Stunts like he pulled in Brazil on Max. There’s not much this smoke without a fire.

          Here’s how bad Ocon is IMO. I at one time was a big Ocon fan and he’s slowly turned me into an anti-fan over time. I can’t think of another driver who I used to root for that I now actively dislike. I still think he deserves a place in F1, but it’s very fair for people to think he doesn’t make a good teammate for a rookie.

          1. José Lopes da Silva
            26th July 2024, 9:08

            Do you know why Johnny Cecotto, Satoru Nakajima or Michael Andretti never blocked Ayrton Senna? It was not because of team orders. Also, it was not because they were nice of fair.

            It was because they were never ahead of him.

      2. José Lopes da Silva
        26th July 2024, 9:02

        “Safe pair of hands” is an expression used for drivers that did not show to be exceptional but also do not compromise. Hulkenberg and Magnussen are examples of this; solid midfield drivers. Even if Magnussen show several times to be more ragged and dangerous than Hulkenberg throughout his career. But both of them were able to return/rebuild their F1 careers because – they are safe pairs of hands.

        Mick Schumacher and Ericsson were too slow to be considered liked this. Maldonado was too much crash prone.

        I simply disagree with the Nick T. about 10-incident DNF in 150 races being a lot, sorry. It’s not. Ocon is not a star of the future and had no future in Alpine after Monaco, but he brings the experience that Haas needs for the moment. Komatsu has legitimate reasons to believe he can deal with Ocon’s temperament better than others. If Haas is not fighting for wins and is not going to hire Top Drivers. After all, maybe Bearman could reveal himself a Top Driver, right? But if he can’t beat Ocon, how could he?

        The stunt he pulled on Max in Senna’s S? I still believe he was trying to please Mercedes.

  14. Kind of hoped we’d be rid of him. Haas must see something I don’t.

  15. I’m not sure Haas can afford this lineup in terms of car parts. Might speed up Andretti’s entry to F1.

  16. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    25th July 2024, 13:39

    I think Mick Schumacher would have been a better choice – Ocon will be ultra frustrated at Haas and the team will be irrelevant compared to his personal frustration if he’s not doing well. Komatsu knows that. People like Ocon are team obliterators, we used to call Alonso that but he was smart enough to change his reputation and personality around and it took him many years to overcome the stigma in the paddock despite being easily one of the best drivers.

    On the other hand, Mick Schumacher would do everything to improve the team.

    1. On the other hand, Mick Schumacher would do everything to improve the team.

      Hmmm, Schumacher…
      Ever heard of the Peter Principle?

    2. He had his chance, and although it was under Steiner, his racecraft and pace was not impressive.

  17. Really?… Kevin is 10 times better then Ocon will ever be… HASS has make a do do..

    1. 1 career podium (his first race). Terrible quali pace. I can’t see why they don’t rate him over Ocon. He’s a solid enough driver who I’ve always liked, but I’d take OB and the loathsome EO over KM.

  18. Would have been nice if he just left F1

  19. Haas would not make any forward progress with this signing, unless the car itself is significantly faster. I also don’t think that Bearman will learn much from Ocon.

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