While the weekend of the Mexico Grand Prix was a historic one, with Kimi Antonelli becoming the youngest ever World Drivers’ Champion, a lot of eyes were elsewhere: namely, the Haas garage. In a shock turn of events, Esteban Ocon was dropped early by the TGR Haas F1 Team. The immediate dismissal comes after an alleged argument with team principal Ayao Komatsu, rumoured to have involved a physical altercation, which Ocon denies.
How all of this played out has the paddock scratching their heads, as there has been no official explanation given from Haas as to why Ocon was let go with only four races left this season. As far as can be discerned, this chain of events began after second practice on the Friday, when Ocon and race engineer Laura Müller disagreed about tyre choices. Although it appeared to be a calm and measured discussion over the radio, despite Ocon’s clear frustration, this seems to have been the catalyst for an apparent row between the driver and Komatsu.
While it is unknown what was said, and Haas maintains that it will “remain an internal matter,” it resulted in the team releasing a statement saying that Ocon would be replaced by test driver Ryo Hirakawa for the rest of the weekend, who scored a point on debut on Sunday.
French sport newspaper L’Équipe reported that the dispute possibly became physical, prompting Ocon’s response via X, where he rejected any allegations of violence. On 3 November, Haas then confirmed that the French driver would no longer compete on behalf of the team for the rest of the 2026 F1 World Championship, and would be replaced by Rafael Câmara at the São Paulo Grand Prix.
Though we do not have the full picture, it is difficult to believe that this incident alone contributed to Ocon’s abrupt dismissal. Tensions are thought to have been running high within the garage for a while now, and since he lost his seat at Haas, there has been a shift in Ocon’s driving toward a more aggressive style. It is understandable why in FP2 he wanted to run on the soft-compound tyres rather than the mediums, as every race weekend since his contract was not renewed has been an audition for other teams to consider him for their driver lineup.
However, only Cadillac and Racing Bulls are yet to confirm their pairings for next year, and it seems unlikely that either team has their sights on Ocon. Alternatively, a role as a reserve driver would still keep him integrated in the paddock.
Ocon previously had a difficult end to his relationships with Force India and Alpine due to teammate conflict. He was left without a seat in 2019 after Force India was bought by businessman Lawrence Stroll, who replaced him with his son Lance Stroll. There was friction between himself and his teammates, firstly with Fernando Alonso and then with Pierre Gasly, which is thought to have contributed to his early departure from the team at the end of 2024.
Over his decade-long career, Ocon has gained a reputation for being temperamental, though such is the competitive nature of racing drivers. Coming from a disadvantaged background, Ocon had to rely on skill alone in the early stages of his journey to F1, so it does not come as a surprise that he would fight just as hard against any perceived challenge to his seat and firmly stand his ground, no matter which team it is in.
The question now is if Esteban Ocon will return to F1 in the future. A Grand Prix winner and just short of 200 starts, Ocon has proved to be a very capable and hardworking driver over his career in the sport and it would be very disappointing if this was the way things ended for him. However, F1 is not the be-all and end-all. It would be equally as exciting to see Ocon drive in other series, such as the World Endurance Championship, where former F1 drivers have typically done well in the past.
“Haas VF-26 of Esteban Ocon (028A8482)” by Yu Chu Chin is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
