Esteban Ocon will sit out the rest of Formula 1’s Mexican Grand Prix with Haas reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa replacing him.
Haas unexpectedly released a short statement on Saturday morning announcing the switch.
“TGR Haas F1 team reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa will replace Esteban Ocon for the remainder of the weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix,” the statement read.
“Hirakawa, a two-time winner of the FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans Winner with Toyota Gazoo Racing, participated in FP1 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Friday 30 October – his third free practice outing of the season driving the VF-26, finishing 15th overall.
“The Japanese driver will partner team-mate Ollie Bearman through final practice and qualifying on Saturday and Sunday’s 71-lap grand prix – Hirakawa’s Formula 1 race debut.
“No further statements will be made at this time.”
No reason has been given for the change but Haas has confirmed it is not due to illness for Ocon.
It is logical therefore to reason that he appears to have been benched.
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Ocon had a frustrating Friday in Mexico, publicly expressing his dissatisfaction with his runplan in FP2 – his only session in the car, after Hirakawa drove in FP1 to satisfy the rookie practice rule.
His time was not bad – after getting the car back off Hirakawa for FP2, Ocon beat team-mate Ollie Bearman to end up a respectable 13th – but there was friction on the radio with his engineer Laura Mueller.
Laura Mueller: We’ve swapped the high fuel run to medium because Ollie’s [tyre] appearance is not great.
Esteban Ocon: Still doing soft, right?
LM: No, we have to do medium.
EO: No, no, I wanted the soft, like, don’t do that to me. Come on.
Ocon was visibly dissatisfied in the paddock after the session, keeping his helmet on as he returned to Haas’s hospitality unit.
Haas has already decided to replace Ocon with Ferrari junior Rafael Camara for 2027, announcing his exit at the end of September.
Camara beat the likes of Toyota-backed driver Hirakawa to secure the seat.
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Two-time WEC champion Hirakawa has completed multiple F1 practice outings for McLaren, Alpine and Haas since the end of 2024, with a long-stated aim of racing in F1.
He will become the oldest F1 debutant since then-32-year-old Andre Lotterer drove for Caterham at the Belgian GP in 2014.
The team is making no comment on its driver line-up for the next race in Brazil, in keeping with its statement.
