Toto Wolff has revealed how he and Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur supported Esteban Ocon financially throughout his Formula 1 career.
Esteban Ocon’s F1 career has been far from smooth sailing. However, his future now hangs in the balance after Haas shockingly dropped the Frenchman midway through the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend.
Ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, the team announced Ocon would not return for the remainder of the 2026 season. They are replacing the long-time driver with Ryo Hirakawa, the team’s reserve driver and Rafa Camara, the current leader of the F2 championship and Haas’ 2027 signing.
Haas have not divuldged the reason for the change, beyond their initial confirmation that it wasn’t due to illness in Mexico. Ocon’s only communication was denying growing rumours of a physical altercation between him and a team member.
A role in Ocon’s career
When discussing the Frenchman’s departure, Wolff said Mercedes still managed Ocon and spoke about the time and money he and Fred Vasseur had invested in Ocon’s first F1 seat with Manor in 2016.
Vasseur’s role came from his connection to Ocon when the Frenchman won the GP3 title with ART Grand Prix, which was run by Vasseur at the time.
“So, Mercedes, we picked up the management of Esteban due to Gwen [Lagrue], actually,” Wolff began.
Lagrue was Mercedes’ driver academy chief, who supported the likes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli in the early years of their careers. He recently announced that he would be moving to Red Bull for 2027.
“That’s how we got to know Gwen when Gravity [Sport Management] defaulted,” Wolff continued.
“And then agreed to work with Fred in GP3. We won the championship together. Then there wasn’t really an opportunity in Formula 1. And then the DTM door, we did that together.
“Then I don’t know if that is actually known, but when suddenly there appeared to be a free seat in Manor from Spa onwards, it needed $2 million, and we were saying we could provide $1 million for that seat, but we were missing $1 million.
“Fred put the money in personally to give Esteban the opportunity.
“And over all those years, I think we were all very supportive and very strong in trying to make sure that Esteban would have the best possible opportunity.”
Ocon has seen teams change over the years, from Force India to Racing Point, Renault to Alpine and joining Haas in 2026. However, Wolff spoke about why he believed Ocon’s time with Haas came to an end.
Haas decided ‘it’s enough’
“Obviously, then went through a couple of team changes.” He said,
“I think at the end, it came to the point where Ayao [Komatsu, Haas team principal] needed to represent the team and protect the team from a certain rhetoric.
“And on the other side, Esteban felt that personally he wasn’t wrong in the things he said.
“You’ve got to respect that in the end the team calls the shots. The team principal needs to decide when it’s enough, and that is what Ayao did.”
Vasseur joined the team principal Press Conference with Wolff and also shared his thoughts on Ocon’s career. He spoke less about the decision, saying ‘it’s difficult’ to comment on another team’s internal workings.
“Yeah, I worked with Esteban in GP3, in DTM. I don’t know if it was 10 or 15 years ago. With Toto also at this stage.” He told the media.
“And yeah, he did very well, I think, in the junior series, in DTM, in F1.
“Now, to comment on what’s happened in another team, it’s difficult. I have enough to do with my guys, and I don’t know what’s happened between Ayao, Haas, and the team and the driver. I don’t want to make any comments.”
However, he admitted it was a ‘shame’ to see the sport lose a driver who’s competed for nearly 10 years.
“For sure, it’s a shame for Esteban because I think he’s a pure competitor.” He said. “He put a lot of energy in all over the season to be in F1, and for this we need to have a huge respect. For this now, I won’t make any comment on the situation.”
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