It appears that Esteban Ocon is out of a job. Again. It’s painful to say, but this has seemed to be coming for a long time, and it’s not exactly surprising to those inside the Formula 1 paddock. His time at Haas was already on life support, with the kill switch being used at the end of the year when both parties walked away.
But in Mexico City, the death of the Ocon-Haas marriage looked like something out of a horror movie. Journalists were preparing to start the day’s busy schedule when the Haas media WhatsApp group chat lit up with a notification from the Head of Communications. In it was a statement saying Ocon had been relieved of his duties for the weekend. It came as quite a shock.
For a team to take this step is nothing short of unprecedented. Driver changes during a weekend were a regular occurrence in the 1990s, but in today’s sport, built on stability and longevity, it is a very rare step indeed. The formality of Haas’s statement suggested something catastrophic had happened after practice on Friday, leading to his release from driving duties.
For this part, Ocon has also remained tight-lipped on what happened, but has taken to social media to rule out any form of assault or violence after it was speculated that an incident with Team Principal Ayao Komatsu took place. The picture, it seems, is destined to remain unclear for quite some time.
We now have confirmation that Ocon has been terminated by Haas, likely bringing down the curtain on two years for a partnership that promised so much, yet delivered so little.
Piecing together the jigsaw
There are precious few answers to the many questions we have. The only thing that we do know is that there was some form of disagreement on Friday during FP2 between Ocon and his race engineer. Laura Müller. Müller radioed her driver to state: ‘Come in, we want to do a long run on the medium tyre’.
Ocon took to the radio immediately to voice his displeasure, his tone far from happy, saying: ‘No, I really want to do them on the soft; what are you doing to me?’ We did not hear the response, if any. To many, this seemed trivial, but, in reality, it could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for the Ocon-Haas marriage, which has barely been held together by more than gaffer tape in recent months.
Reports then emerged of some sort of disagreement on Friday evening. French publication L’Equipe reported that a meeting between Ocon and Komatsu “ended abruptly, perhaps even physically”, something that Ocon strenuously denied in his statement on Sunday morning, but did not reveal any other information about his sudden free time in Mexico City to take in the sights.
The lack of information to hand and the official nature of the statements of both team drivers sadly means that this has likely now entered the domain of this divorce being in the hands of legal representatives. Neither party will have wanted things to end on a note like this, but it appears to be the case.
The full events that led to that statement being released on Saturday morning will eventually come to light, but not before the battle for both parties to get their points across has concluded. Until then, all we have is conjecture and speculation.
Ocon has been polite, engaging and outwardly at least motivated in person despite losing his seat at the end of the year. But it’s what we haven’t seen that likely holds the key to the decision to drop him for Mexico. A tense atmosphere has engulfed Haas this year at points, with Ocon at the centre. That, sadly, is undeniable.
We’ve already covered Ocon’s long history of fallouts with teams he’s driven for, but it seems that history is repeating itself.
Where next for Esteban Ocon?
A year on F1’s sidelines seems almost inevitable now. Even if Haas invite the Frenchman back, he is still out of contract at the end of the year, and the announcement that he was being dropped came at a time when available seats for the 2027 grid had begun to dry up.
The only seat unaccounted for is a Cadillac one at the expense of Valtteri Bottas, with the team’s own test driver, Colton Herta, in the running for that cockpit. While Racing Bulls have yet to confirm either Liam Lawson or Arvid Lindblad, both are expected to retain their seats, or Nikola Tsolov will be promoted at Lawson’s expense.
So it looks like there’s no room at the inn for Ocon. He is still hungry and talented, but with no F1 seat. We wrote a few weeks ago about his greatest flaw: how hard he can push a team, and how edgy an atmosphere it can create. This doesn’t just affect senior management; everyone is impacted, and this has a knock-on effect.
Imagine working with someone for many years who grates on you, or who can bring down morale because their working style is so different to everyone else. Then imagine leaving that particular job, and later discovering that individual is in line to join your new company. What’s the first thing you do? Politely warn management what they are letting themselves in for. This is the challenge Ocon now faces.
Team personnel change all the time in F1, with people trying out roles in different teams. What this does mean, however, is that when people inevitably move on from Haas into new roles, they will take the memories of their time with Ocon with them. And they will give their opinion, both good and, more importantly, bad.
With a race seat all but gone, Ocon will have to make do with a reserve driver role, with Aston Martin as a possible destination. As a stopgap, it could work out nicely, but it is not a permanent solution. His goal remains a full-time F1 seat, but even 2028 looks to be a long shot at this stage.
Being fired may have been Ocon’s unexpected swansong in F1, and it looks like his own doing entirely. The whole incident has an air of finality about it. Answers on his next destination will come, but one cannot think that Ocon may have sown the seeds of his own demise in F1. If he does not return, this is a sad end to a memorable career. Bon Voyage Esteban!
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