Esteban Ocon’s first year with Haas was an up-and-down 2025 F1 season that saw him ultimately place 15th in the Drivers’ Championship. In assessing this most recent campaign, he emphasized team unity as a major factor in the successes that they have had.
Ocon and Haas ”all working together” through 2025 F1 season
“I think the highlight has been how we are all working together, how we’ve managed to overcome difficult situations as a team. The turnaround between the first race and the second race, all of this has been highlights.”
That first race at Melbourne saw both Haas cars started from the back and finished last among cars running. They were nowhere in the high speed corners.
But it was followed up by Ocon’s best finish of the season, taking 5th in Shanghai after disqualifications to both Ferrari cars. This kind of feast-or-famine dichotomy played out all season long.
Q1 eliminations became a regular feature in the second part of the season. The Frenchman once again explained his problems with the car.
“I think difficulties are, the ones that remain towards the end of the year for me and the issues I’m facing with the car, the braking, the instability. These are things that we are struggling to fix really across cars. That’s the main thing of the low point, I would say.”
Confidence in himself, Bearman, and Haas: ”Next year we will both be fighting for points”
While Esteban Ocon has had notable clashes with teammates in the past, he praised rookie teammate Ollie Bearman, who finished three points ahead of Ocon in 13th. The veteran emphasized the struggles that they’ve had to fight through, especially in the last half of the season.
As Haas enters a new era with the 2026 rules package and continues their partnership with Toyota Gazoo Racing, Ocon was optimistic that his team will reap the rewards when speaking after a fine P7 at the F1 Abu Dhabi GP.
“We’ve clearly shown that we’ve had issues with the car for the last ten races. Ollie has done an amazing job. He’s been very strong all season. But we shouldn’t have been half a second off every lap, like we’ve been in the last ten. So next year we will be both fighting for points. And hopefully we will maximise the results all together as a team.”
