Esteban Ocon will leave Haas at the end of the 2026 season. The Frenchman confirmed the split on social media on Wednesday, two seasons after joining the American team, and Haas followed with a short statement from team principal Ayao Komatsu.
What Haas did not do is name his successor. Every report in the paddock points the same way, though: Ferrari junior Rafael Câmara, the 21-year-old Brazilian who leads the Formula 2 championship, is first in line for the seat next to Oliver Bearman in 2027.
“Absolutely not the end of my Formula 1 career”
Ocon did not hide his frustration. “My time with Haas F1 Team will come to an end at the end of the 2026 season. I leave this project with my head held high and proud of my performances in what were not always the easiest of circumstances for various reasons and factors outside of my control,” he wrote.
He closed with a message aimed at every other team on the grid: “I am still motivated. I am still hungry. This is absolutely not the end of my Formula 1 career.”
Komatsu kept it brief and polite. “I’d like to thank Esteban for everything he’s contributed to the team since joining us in 2025. His professionalism and commitment have proved valuable as we continue to grow as an organisation.”
The announcement did not come out of nowhere. At the media day in Baku a week earlier, Ocon called himself “definitely a free agent for next year”, as we reported at the time.
Seven points against twenty
The numbers did the talking. In the official standings Ocon is 16th with 7 points; Bearman is 13th with 20. Both cars finished in the points in Azerbaijan, which leaves Haas seventh in the constructors’ championship with 27 points.
Ocon’s “factors outside of my control” has a concrete background. At Monza, Ferrari had only one unit of its upgraded ADUO 2 power unit available per customer team, and Haas gave it to Bearman. The difference on that Friday was more than a second between the two cars, as we wrote from Monza. How the ADUO mechanism works is explained in our ADUO explainer.
Ocon made his debut at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix with Manor and raced for Force India, Renault and Alpine before Haas. He has four podiums, including his win at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. More in his driver profile.
Câmara leads Formula 2 by seven points
Câmara won the Formula 3 title as a rookie in 2025, clinching it with a round to spare in Budapest. This year he races in Formula 2 for Invicta Racing, and after Baku he leads the championship with 207 points, seven ahead of Nikola Tsolov. The full table is on our Formula 2 standings page.
GPblog was first to report Haas’s preference for Câmara in mid-September. The Race, PlanetF1 and RACER have since named him as the favourite, and RACER reports that Haas also evaluated reserves Ryo Hirakawa and Jack Doohan as well as Leonardo Fornaroli. According to the Brazilian outlet Grande Prêmio, Fornaroli has been told he will not get the seat, which leaves Hirakawa as the only serious alternative. The same outlet says Câmara drove a Ferrari at Mugello before his Haas test at Portimão.
Some outlets describe the deal as done. Haas has not confirmed it, and its statement on Wednesday did not mention a successor. Asked by The Race whether he felt ready for Formula 1, Câmara said he saw no reason why he would not be.
Two Ferrari juniors in one garage
If Câmara gets the seat, Haas would field two drivers who came through Ferrari’s orbit: Oliver Bearman and the Brazilian. For Ferrari that means two of its young talents racing in Formula 1 at the same time, with the engine and technical partnership already in place.
Where Ocon goes is less clear. In Baku he said: “Everything that we’re looking at is in F1.” French broadcaster Canal Plus has mentioned Cadillac and Aston Martin, although Aston Martin has since extended with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Because Haas works with Toyota, some reports also link him with Toyota’s factory programme in the World Endurance Championship. None of that is confirmed.
Our read
Haas is choosing the future over the present, and with these numbers that is hard to argue with. Seven points against twenty is a gap no team principal can explain away, even if the single ADUO engine at Monza did Ocon no favours.
Câmara is the logical pick. He arrives as Formula 3 champion and Formula 2 leader, Ferrari wants him on the grid, and Haas gets a driver who already knows its people from testing. The risk is timing: his Formula 2 lead is only seven points, and a rookie at Haas next to a driver in his third season will be measured against Bearman from the first lap. Our guess is that Haas waits for the Brazilian Grand Prix in November, which GPblog has also suggested, to make it official in front of Câmara’s home crowd.
Is Rafael Câmara ready for Formula 1 in 2027, or should Haas have kept Ocon for one more year? Tell us in the comments.
Still to come in the title fight
Câmara’s next job is the Formula 2 title, with the season finale in Abu Dhabi in early December. For Ocon, the question is whether a seat is still open in 2027 or whether he will have to wait a year. Follow the Formula 1 table on our F1 standings page.
