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American F1 team Haas has announced the signing of French driver Esteban Ocon on a multiple-year contract from the 2025 season. Ocon will partner with F1 debutant and Ferrari reserve driver Oliver Bearman next year. The Fr enchman previously worked with Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, as the Japanese se boss was Ocon's engineer in his first F1 test in 2014 with Lotus.
Ferrari-powered Haas entered Formula One in 2016 and are yet to win a race. Ocon will hence be the first race winner in a Haas car as he won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine. The 27-year-old has started 146 races and competed for the now-defunct Manor and Force India.
Haas announce signing of Esteban Ocon on multi-year contract
Esteban Ocon tweeted about his new team and said, "Very proud to announce I will be joining @HaasF1Team in 2025 on a multi-year deal. I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter in my F1 career and join an ambitious racing team whose spirit, work ethic, and undeniable upward trajectory has really impressed me. I’d like to thank Gene and Ayao for our honest and fruitful discussions these last few months."
"Haas F1 Team has big plans and clear targets for the future, and I am looking forward to reuniting with Ayao (my first-ever F1 race engineer!), as well as working with everyone in Kannapolis, Banbury, and Maranello. For now, my focus and energy is still fully dedicated to @AlpineF1Team. We’ve got 11 races to go this year and I am more motivated than ever to end my five-year collaboration with the team on a high," he continued.
On signing Esteban Ocon, Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu said, "I’m delighted we’ve secured Esteban Ocon’s services for Haas. I’ve obviously been aware of his talents for a long time and our personal history dates back to Esteban’s maiden run in a Formula 1 car – I was his race engineer that day with Lotus. He displayed his talents back then coming off the back of strong performances in the junior categories – he’d just won the 2014 European Formula 3 Championship."
