‘Don’t write me off yet’ – Ocon confirms his goal is to remain in F1 after Haas exit

Esteban Ocon has explained that while he is leaving the Haas project “with my head high”, his intention is to continue competing in Formula 1, even if that involves temporarily switching to a reserve driver position.

With almost all of the seats on the 2027 grid now filled – excluding Racing Bulls and Haas – Ocon recently confirmed that he would leave the American team when the current campaign concludes.

Speaking ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, the Frenchman also explained that his career in F1 – which has seen him clinch one victory and a further three podiums over 10 years – will not come to an end quite yet.

“You never know what can happen in F1,” he told the media. “We are of course aware that things can change very quickly, the opportunities can always be there so there is still hope and I'm not looking at anything else other than F1.

“That's where I want to be, that's where I deserve to be as well and I want to be here still next year. The only thing I can do is drive well on track, that's what I will focus on. I will focus on delivering the maximum that the car can do and that's what we've done for now at quite a lot of events.

“Since Budapest, we've had the car more consistent, more healthy. I think since Budapest there's only been Monza where it was not working the way it should have but it's almost been two weekends with back-to-back points to be honest.

“We’ve been doing the right job for a while. It didn't pay off for a long time but it's starting to show to the whole world. I will keep doing that.”

It was his team mate Ollie Bearman who scored Haas’ first points of the season, but both drivers have complained of inconsistencies across their cars that the team have persistently worked to amend.

The changes made behind the scenes, as well as some good fortune, helped them secure a double top-10 finish last time out in Baku, leaving Ocon proud of the effort he has put in to help Haas progress as quickly as possible.

“I'm coming out of this project with my head high,” he said. “I think I've done and I've contributed to a lot of great things for this team. I think finding out problems was one of the big ones.

“We did – very early on last year – find a lot of issues and this is benefitting everyone now to have healthier cars, and we start to see the benefit of me finding these issues very early on. It's thanks to that that we got double points, for example, last week and that we had two cars working super well in Madrid.

“We are starting to see the good results of all of that. I'm not looking at the past once again, not going to give reasons or talk about it, I'm just looking at what's to come in the future and hopefully more good results like those ones. And as I said, there can always be opportunities in F1, things change so quickly that anything can happen. Don't write me off yet.”

Asked whether he’d settle for a role as another outfit’s third driver for 2027, Ocon added: “At worst, yes. I still want to be racing – that's where I deserve to be, that's where I want to be. Yes, I want to be racing full-time so we will see.”

He previously took a sabbatical as Mercedes’ reserve in 2019 following stints at Manor and Force India, but it remains to be seen which team he would prefer to move to on this occasion.

And although a contract extension hasn’t been announced for Bearman either, the Briton has indicated that he will stay at Haas for a third season and embrace the possible challenge of being their most experienced driver.

“Esteban has been a great team mate and it’s a shame to see him going, but I think I’ve learned a lot from him over the year and a half we’ve been together,” Bearman explained. “Of course, he’s a very quick driver, but also the way that he works with the team has been quite interesting for me to see.

“Coming in as an F2 driver where you’re almost a client of the team and you get told what to do, you step up to F1 and now the team looks to you for inspiration, for motivation, and for direction in terms of development.

“It’s the first time I’ve been in that situation so in that sense, I learned a lot from Esteban. That’s been really useful for me. There’s no doubt about his speed. He’s shown that on many occasions.

“It’s a shame to see, but I’m looking forward to coming into a new role maybe within the team as the leader, being the most experienced driver within the team potentially. In that sense, I think it’s a good opportunity for me to continue to learn.

“My first few races were very unique circumstances, but even if I compare to the level I was performing at last year, I’ve definitely come a long way, especially with how I interact with the team off track and what I understand about how to get the most out of the guys and developing the car.”