Ahead of FP3 at the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP, Haas announced that Esteban Ocon will no longer make an appearance on track at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the rest of the weekend. Ryō Hirakawa will instead take his seat. The 32-year-old had participated in FP1 at the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP the day prior in Ocon’s Haas.
Komatsu remains silent on situation with Ocon at 2026 F1 Mexico City GP
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 in FP3, Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu shared a small insight into the team’s decision to have Ocon swapped out for the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP weekend. The Japanese did not share any details of the situation but did confirm that Ocon was not missing the weekend due to a medical condition.
“I can’t tell you much but at least I can tell you that he’s not ill. That’s much I can tell you.”
Hirakawa’s primary racing series is the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and he drives for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the No.8 car. Hence, the 32-year-old would not be able to drive for Haas next weekend at São Paulo due to his commitments at the 6 Hours of Monza. When questioned about who would drive alongside Ollie Bearman in Brazil, Komatsu shared that the team was focused on the current weekend in Mexico City, as he stated: “I haven’t got there yet. So I’m really just focussing on this session right now.”
The reality of Ocon’s contract with Haas following the 2026 F1 season
Ocon had long accepted the reality that he would not be continuing with Haas for the 2027 F1 season. At the 2026 F1 Azerbaijan GP, he had said that he was “definitely a free agent for next year”. A couple of weeks later, exactly four days after the 2026 F1 Singapore GP, current F2 Championship leader Rafael Câmara was announced as the first confirmed driver of Haas’ 2027 driver line-up.
Since being paired up with teammate Ollie Bearman in 2025, the Frenchman has continued to be beaten by his younger teammate since the second half of the last campaign. After 19 rounds of the 2026 F1 season, Bearman has secured a standout 5th-place finish in Shanghai, while Ocon’s highest scoring output came from an 8th-place result in Azerbaijan.
In the 2026 F1 Drivers’ Championship, Ocon currently sits P16 in the standings with only 7 points to his name. While Bearman sat four positions higher in P13 with more than double the amount of points. The Briton has collected a total of 23 points thus far.
Though the deficit was much smaller, at the end of the 2025 season, then rookie driver Bearman scored 3 more points than Ocon and placed two positions higher.
Not a first for the Frenchman
This would not be the first time Ocon has exited a team before the end of an F1 season. Prior to his stint with Haas, the Frenchman had been sidelined from his former team Alpine at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi. Then Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan made his F1 debut that weekend, taking over the 30-year-old’s seat.
It was later revealed that Alpine had dismissed Ocon from the team early, as the Frenchman wanted to take part in the post-season testing with Haas rather than Alpine. The Enstone outfit had refused to compromise, resulting in a premature end of his stint with the team.
A repeated issue
A constant in every one of Ocon’s stints with F1 teams seems to be a recurring pattern of friction with the team management. It was no different during his rookie season with Force India, which was characterised by his infamous history with Sergio Pérez on track in 2017 and 2018.
Haas will be the second team to have sidelined Ocon before the end of the season, and while Komatsu has yet to share the true reason for the Frenchman’s absence from the 2026 F1 Mexico City GP, it could be speculated that it had to do with Ocon’s internal conflict within the team.
