Esteban Ocon is a French Formula 1 driver, born 17 September 1996 in Évreux, Normandy. He has raced for the Haas F1 Team since 2025, partnering British driver Oliver Bearman. Across a career of nearly 190 starts he has taken one win, four podiums and one fastest lap, his sole victory coming for Alpine at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. ¹²

Ocon comes from a working-class racing family. His father Laurent, a mechanic with Spanish heritage from Málaga, and his mother Sabrina Khelfane, who has Algerian roots, sold their home and garage and at times lived in a caravan, travelling circuit to circuit to fund his karting. That sacrifice is something Ocon has repeatedly cited as the source of his hard-edged competitiveness. ¹

“0, Ocon broke through in 2014, winning the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema Racing.”

Early life and karting

Ocon's karting record marked him as a standout of a remarkable French generation. He won the French Minime title in 2007 and the French Cadet championship in 2008 ahead of Anthoine Hubert and Pierre Gasly, added the French KF3 crown in 2010, and finished runner-up to Max Verstappen in the 2011 WSK Euro Series. That early duel with Verstappen began a rivalry that would shadow both men into Formula 1. ¹

Junior formulae

After a strong spell in Formula Renault 2.0, Ocon broke through in 2014, winning the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema Racing. He amassed nine wins and fifteen poles to beat Tom Blomqvist and Verstappen to the title. Backed by Mercedes, he stepped up to GP3 in 2015 and won the championship with ART Grand Prix despite a run of nine consecutive second places, then spent 2016 contesting the DTM for Mercedes-Benz before an F1 chance arrived mid-season. ¹

Formula 1 career

Ocon made his F1 debut at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix with Manor Racing, replacing Rio Haryanto. He moved to Force India (later Racing Point) for 2017–2018, scoring 87 points and eighth in the standings in 2017, but his time there was marked by repeated collisions with team-mate Sergio Pérez. After spending 2019 as Mercedes reserve driver — a year on the sidelines that he credits with sharpening his preparation — he returned to a race seat with Renault in 2020, the team rebranding as Alpine in 2021. ¹

Signature moments

Ocon took his maiden podium with second place at the chaotic 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. His career highlight came at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix, where he led from an early restart and held off Sebastian Vettel to claim his and Alpine's first F1 win. In 2022 he outscored four-time champion Fernando Alonso, the first team-mate to do so since 2015. He added a podium at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix and another at the rain-hit 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, and took his first career fastest lap at the 2024 United States Grand Prix before an acrimonious split saw him leave Alpine a race early, after the Qatar Grand Prix. ¹

2025 with Haas

Ocon joined Haas for 2025 on a multi-year deal, reuniting with the Maranello-linked outfit run by his compatriots' rival nations of engineering. He scored 38 points and finished 15th in the championship, his best result a fifth place at the Chinese Grand Prix, backed by seventh places at Monaco and Abu Dhabi. The veteran was, however, narrowly out-pointed by rookie team-mate Bearman over the full season — 41 to 38 — a result that set the tone for a tense follow-up campaign. ¹²

2026 season and current form

The 2026 season has been difficult. After the opening rounds Ocon sat 16th with just a single point, while Bearman had vaulted into the top ten and carried Haas up the constructors' table almost single-handedly. Reports emerged that Ocon's relationship with team principal Ayao Komatsu had deteriorated badly enough that his seat could be under threat, though Ocon has publicly insisted that "stories have been fabricated" and denied any rift. Komatsu, for his part, has acknowledged expecting more from the Frenchman. ²³⁴

Driving style and character

Ocon is known as a fierce, uncompromising racer with a combative on-track edge that has produced friction with several team-mates — Pérez, Verstappen (with whom he had a post-race confrontation at Brazil in 2018) and Gasly among them. Supporters point to his racecraft in mixed conditions and his ability to convert rare opportunities, as in Hungary 2021; critics note the recurring tension that follows him. ¹

Bottom line

Ocon is a race-winning, championship-pedigree midfield driver whose career has been defined by resilience and a hard-edged competitive streak. At Haas he was signed as a benchmark veteran, but with Bearman ascendant and his own form and team relationship under strain in 2026, his future at the team — and in F1 — has become one of the season's open questions. ²³