Esteban Ocon to drive for Haas F1 Team from 2025

The Haas F1 team announced Thursday that it has signed Esteban Ocon to a driver contract.

Haas has signed Ocon to a multi-year contract that will see the young French driver start driving for the American team in 2025.

Ocon has previously worked with Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu, and the news is not a huge surprise, as Ocon has been rumored to be in line for a seat with the team since his current employer, Alpine, announced in June that it would fire him in 2024. Komatsu was Ocon's race engineer when he tested for Lotus in 2014.

Alpine has not announced a replacement driver for Ocon, but team principal Bruno Famin had previously mentioned Mick Schumacher, son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher and currently a reserve driver for Mercedes-Benz AMG, as a possible candidate.

Ocon will replace Kevin Magnussen at Haas. Magnussen has not announced any plans for the future, although he is still looking to stay in F1.

Haas' other driver for 2024 is Nico Hulkenberg, who announced in April that he will leave the team at the end of this season to join Sauber, which will become Audi in 2026.

Haas named Oliver Bearman as Hulkenberg's replacement in early July. The promising driver is currently Ferrari's reserve driver and has a close relationship with Haas, including the supply of power units.

Ocon first entered Formula One as a Manor driver in 2016. The following year he joined Force India and was Mercedes reserve for a year in 2019 before joining Renault in 2020 and staying with the team after it was renamed Alpine in 2021. driver to join Haas.