Haas will walk into the 2025 F1 season with an all-new driver pair. The team has been going through some changes ever since Guenther Steiner left it last year. Soon, the North Carolina-based outfit hired former race engineer Ayao Komatsu as the new team principal. And since the contracts of both Haas racers, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, are coming to an end, the team has hired some fresh faces for next year. At first, Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman announced he would be joining Haas. And now, Esteban Ocon has also followed suit.

However, Ocon is infamous for locking horns with his teammates. Especially at this year’s Monaco GP, the Frenchman got flak from many critics for his performance. As both Ocon and his current Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly raced at the Principality, Esteban charged into the inside of Gasly’s car. This led to a collision between them, which ultimately caused Ocon to retire early and even damaged Gasly’s A524 significantly. Angry at the #31 racer’s reckless driving, Alpine’s then-boss Bruno Famin had even lashed out with a threat of suspending Esteban for the Canadian GP.

Because of all this history trailing behind Ocon, some teams might be afraid of taking the Frenchman up—but not Haas. So, Ayao Komatsu said, “You have to trust the drivers and make them feel comfortable. Then they also deliver performance. It’s our job to create the right environment for both drivers and make sure they work well together.”

While Esteban Ocon’s conduct at the Monaco GP 2024 has raised eyebrows, he has claimed he had the “right people” in his corner. So, what did the Frenchman say about that situation?

Esteban Ocon claims he had support from “the right people” after his Monaco disaster

The Monaco GP is a prestigious event for every racer but Ocon’s collision led to an unfortunate end to the race for both him and his teammate Pierre Gasly this year. Bruno Famin was dejected to see the internal conflict in his team as he attacked Ocon and said, “It’s sad, this kind of incident. It’s exactly what we didn’t want to see. And there will be the appropriate consequences.” In the end, just a few weeks later, Esteban Ocon announced he would be parting ways with Alpine.

However, he did have the support of some drivers during the period following the Monaco GP. Former F1 Champion Damon Hill had apparently come to the aid of Ocon. So, the Évreaux native said, “Of course, it’s good to have support from the right people. And it [the Monaco incident] took, for sure, too much proportion, especially on social media, which is why Damon Hill said, ‘I’m glad I didn’t drive in the social media days’. That’s basically what he said.”

Well, Esteban Ocon might have parted ways with Alpine but the Enstone outfit is still in search of his replacement. While Flavio Briatore was eyeing a deal with Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard decided to go with Williams instead. So, which racer do you think will enter the French team now?