Ocon to leave Haas putting F1 future in doubt — SkimNews
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- Haas announced they will split with Esteban Ocon at the end of the 2026 season, ending his two-year stint with the American team
- Ocon, 30, has raced in F1 since 2016, won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix for Alpine, and also drove for Manor and Force India before joining Haas in 2025
- Oliver Bearman has outperformed Ocon this season — finishing 13th in the championship, three places and 13 points ahead — and has out-qualified him 13-6 at an average advantage of 0.144 seconds
- Last year Bearman finished 13th and Ocon 15th, with qualifying margins of 18-7 and 0.175 seconds in the Briton's favor
- Ocon said on social media this is "absolutely not the end of my Formula 1 career" and that he remains "motivated" and "hungry," though no obvious berths exist on the 2027 grid
- Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu praised Ocon's "professionalism and commitment" and credited his experience as significant in developing the VF-26 through this year's major regulation change
Why it matters: Ocon's underperformance against Bearman — a 13-6 qualifying deficit at 0.144s and 13 points in the standings — coincides with a grid that appears full for 2027, putting his decade-long F1 career at its most precarious point with no clear landing spot. For Haas, shedding a 2021 race winner frees a seat ahead of 2027's major regulation change but ends the development input Komatsu explicitly praised.
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