Haas has decided not to activate its contractual option to keep Esteban Ocon for next year, closing the door on his time with the team after two years.
The team told Ocon just after the summer break that he was unlikely to be retained, marking the point when the situation shifted from uncertain to essentially settled. Ocon had joined Haas after being dropped by Alpine before the final race of 2024, but the partnership never fully stabilized.
How the relationship changed
Haas worked early in 2025 to push past the mental baggage Ocon carried from his final Alpine stint, and Ayao Komatsu believed his earlier relationship with the driver would help prevent tensions from spilling over. Komatsu and Ocon had previously worked together in 2014, when Komatsu was a senior engineer at what is now Alpine in its Lotus era.
But the relationship gradually deteriorated rather than collapsing after one moment. Ocon and Ollie Bearman had a collision at the 2025 British Grand Prix that was addressed internally, and they had another collision this year at Spa, also handled inside the team. Even so, Ocon and Bearman did not develop ill-will.
What comes next
Ocon's exit leaves Haas with a fresh decision to make for the 2026 season. The team had a contractual option to retain him, but chose not to use it, which confirms that the move was about performance and fit over time rather than a single incident. Ocon, for his part, has referred to elements out of his control while marking the end of his Haas chapter.
The next step is whether Haas looks elsewhere to fill the seat and how quickly the rest of the driver market responds. For Ocon, the focus now turns to finding another Formula 1 opportunity after a stint that started with promise but ended in an obvious separation.
