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Laurence Edmondson, F1 Editor
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Esteban Ocon will join Haas next season on a multi-year deal, the American team confirmed on Thursday.
The French driver will be paired with rookie Oliver Bearman in an all-new driver line-up at Haas for 2025.
It was announced after the Monaco Grand Prix earlier this year that Ocon was set to leave Alpine at the end of the season, leading to speculation about his future plans.
In recent weeks it has become clear Haas was his most likely destination, with the deal being announced ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Ocon, who won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, will be the first Formula One race-winner to join Haas and worked with its team principal Ayao Komatsu during his first F1 test at the Lotus team in 2014.
“I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter in my Formula One career and join MoneyGram Haas F1 Team from the start of the 2025 season,” Ocon said. “I’ll be joining a very ambitious racing team, whose spirit, work ethic, and undeniable upward trajectory has really impressed me.
“I’d like to thank Gene Haas and Ayao Komatsu for their trust and support, and for our honest and fruitful discussions these last few months. On a more personal note, I’m very happy to be working with Ayao again, as he’s been a part of my debut when I first stepped into a Formula One car during my Lotus Junior days more than ten years ago.
“MoneyGram Haas F1 Team has exciting plans and clear targets for the future, and I’m very much looking forward to working with everyone in Kannapolis, Banbury and Maranello, and being part of this great project.”
Komatsu added: “I’m delighted we’ve secured Esteban Ocon’s services for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team. 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 One 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. Esteban’s gone on to become an established talent in Formula One and of course a grand prix winner.
“The experience he brings, not just from his own talent base but also from working for a manufacturer team, will be advantageous to us in our growth as an organisation.
“It was vital we had a driver with experience in beside Oliver Bearman next year, but Esteban’s only 27 — he’s still young with a lot to prove as well. I think we have a hungry, dynamic driver pairing and I look forward to welcoming Esteban into MoneyGram Haas F1 Team for 2025.”
Haas’ existing drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Kevin Magnussen had already announced their plans to leave the team at the end of the year, with Hulkenberg heading for Sauber and Magnussen yet to decide on his future beyond 2024.
Source: www.espn.com