Esteban Ocon will race for Haas in 2025

Esteban Ocon has signed for the Haas F1 team on a ‘multi-year’ contract, meaning he will line up on the grid next to teenager Oliver Bearman in 2025.

The 27-year-old - whose maiden win came in a chaotic edition of the Hungarian Grand Prix back in 2021 - announced his exit from Alpine last month.

The countdown for the news effectively began last week when the team confirmed it was dropping Kevin Magnussen at the end of the season; Nico Hulkenberg’s switch to Sauber/Audi was made public in April.

Ocon’s move to Haas marks a new chapter in the Frenchman’s career, having started out as a mid-season sub at the old Manor F1 team in 2016 before jumping to Force India (later Racing Point, now Aston Martin) the following year.

He dropped off the grid in 2019 but returned with Renault in 2020, where he scored his first ever F1 podium at the Sakhir Grand Prix. The team morphed into Alpine in 2021, and he added to his epic Hungaroring victory with a third career podium in Monaco last season.

But his future at the team has looked bleak for some time, having clashed on track a number of times with teammate Pierre Gasly, who was signed last year despite having, um, a difficult personal relationship with Ocon.

“I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter in my Formula 1 career and join MoneyGram Haas F1 Team from the start of the 2025 season,” said Estie. “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. On a more personal note, 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.

“MoneyGram Haas F1 Team has exciting plans and clear targets for the future, and I’m very much looking forward to working with everyone in Kannapolis, Banbury and Maranello, and being part of this great project.”

Haas is enjoying something of a revival this season having effectively fired team boss Guenther Steiner in January: it currently lies seventh in the constructors’ standings having finished stone dead last in 2023, and adding a bona fide race winner and young prodigy to its line-up puts it in a good place for 2025.

“I’m delighted we’ve secured Esteban Ocon’s services for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team,” stated Komatsu. “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 MoneyGram Haas F1 Team for 2025.”

Happy with that news, race fans?