Haas drop Esteban Ocon in Mexico and hand Ryo Hirakawa his F1 race debut
Haas have replaced Esteban Ocon with reserve Ryo Hirakawa for the rest of the Mexico City Grand Prix, giving no reason beyond confirming Ocon isn't ill.
Haas have dropped Esteban Ocon for the rest of the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend and put a race debutant in his car. Ryo Hirakawa, the team's reserve driver since 2025, takes over from final practice on Saturday 31 October, through qualifying and into Sunday's 71-lap race on 1 November. It will be his Formula 1 race debut.
The team announced the switch in a short statement on Saturday morning. They confirmed Ocon isn't ill, gave no reason for the change and said: "No further statements will be made at this time."
A respectable Friday, and a tense radio channel
Ocon's time on Friday wasn't the problem. Hirakawa drove his VF-26 in first practice under the rookie rule and finished 15th, his third practice outing of the season in this car. Ocon got the car back for second practice, his only session of the weekend, and was 13th, ahead of team-mate Oliver Bearman.
The friction came over the run plan. His engineer, Laura Mueller, told him: "We've swapped the high fuel run to medium because Ollie's [tyre] appearance is not great." Ocon's reply was blunt: "No, no, I wanted the soft, like, don't do that to me. Come on." According to The Race, he was visibly unhappy in the paddock afterwards, keeping his helmet on as he walked back to the team's hospitality unit.
Ocon was leaving anyway. Haas announced his exit at the end of September, with Ferrari junior Rafael Camara taking the seat for 2027. It isn't the first time he's been let go early either. Alpine dropped him before the final race of 2024, before his move to Haas.
Pedigree isn't the question for Hirakawa
Hirakawa is no novice. He's a two-time World Endurance champion, in 2022 and 2023, and won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2022, all with Toyota. He's done practice outings for McLaren, Alpine and Haas since the end of 2024, and has long said he wants to race in F1. He was also in the running for the 2027 seat that went to Camara. At 32, he becomes the oldest F1 debutant since Andre Lotterer drove for Caterham at the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.
Swapping known pace for an unknown
Talent isn't in doubt. Readiness is. A grand prix weekend from final practice onwards is another level from a practice run, and qualifying in Mexico is a very different job from a Friday morning session.
Whatever the reason behind this, and we'd love to know it, Haas have swapped a driver who beat Bearman on Friday for one who has never started a race. There are four rounds left after Mexico and the team aren't saying anything about Brazil. Sunday just got harder, and that's a cost Haas chose.
Sources
- Hirakawa to replace Ocon at Haas for Mexico City Grand Prix (opens in a new tab), Formula 1
- Ocon out, Hirakawa in as Haas make shock Mexican Grand Prix driver change | Formula 1 (opens in a new tab), RaceFans
- Haas drops Esteban Ocon for F1 Mexico GP (opens in a new tab), Motorsport.com
- Haas drops Ocon for F1 Mexico GP (opens in a new tab), Autosport
- Ocon suddenly replaced at Haas for rest of Mexico F1 weekend (opens in a new tab), The Race
- Hirakawa replaces Ocon for Mexico City Grand Prix (opens in a new tab), BBC Sport
