Esteban Ocon
Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Haas. Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine.
Born and raised in Normandy to a working-class family, Ocon began competitive kart racing aged nine, winning several national and international titles. Graduating to junior formulae in 2012, Ocon won his first title at the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema, ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen. Ocon then won the 2015 GP3 Series with ART, achieving 14 podiums in 18 races. A member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2015, Ocon made his Formula One debut at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix with Manor, replacing Rio Haryanto for the remainder of the season. He moved to Force India—who later became Racing Point—in, partnering Sergio Pérez. Ocon left Racing Point at the end of, becoming a reserve driver for Mercedes in.
Ocon returned as a full-time driver with Renault in, taking his maiden podium finish at the. Retaining his seat for, Ocon partnered Fernando Alonso at the re-branded Alpine, taking his maiden victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix. After a less successful campaign, during which he became the first teammate to outscore Alonso in the championship since Jenson Button in, Ocon achieved his third podium at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. In —his final season at Alpine—Ocon achieved his maiden fastest lap in the United States, followed by a fourth career podium at the rain-affected. He left Alpine after the, moving to Haas for alongside Oliver Bearman.
As of the, Ocon has achieved race win, fastest lap and podiums in Formula One. Ocon is contracted to remain at Haas until at least the end of the 2026 season.
Early and personal life
Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane was born on 17 September 1996 in Évreux, Normandy to Sabrina Khelfane and Laurent Ocon, a mechanic who owns a garage in Évreux. His paternal family is originally from Málaga, Spain, and his mother has roots in Algeria. While competing in karting, his parents decided to sell their family home, which included his father's garage, to fund his karting career. After selling the house, they lived and travelled to races in a caravan Ocon also used as a motor home. Ocon admitted that he almost gave up on his racing career to work at McDonald's., Ocon lives in Geneva, Switzerland. Besides his native French language, Ocon also speaks English, Spanish and Italian. In 2023 Ocon began a relationship with model, social media influencer, medical student and former Miss Côte d'Azur Flavy Barla having split with his previous girlfriend Elena Berri earlier in 2023.
Junior racing career
Karting (2006–2011)
Ocon entered karting in 2006, when he finished eighth in the Minime class of the French Championship. He won the championship in 2007 and continued his success by winning the Cadet class in 2008 ahead of Anthoine Hubert and Pierre Gasly. He then spent three years racing in the KF3 category and competed in the Spanish Championship and Italian Open Masters. He won the French KF3 title in 2010 and finished as runner-up in the WSK Euro Series in 2011 behind Max Verstappen. At the age of 14, Ocon was signed by Gravity Sports management, a sister company of Renault F1 team.Formula Renault 2.0 (2012–2013)
2012: Junior formulae debut
In 2012, Ocon made his debut in single-seaters, taking part in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with Koiranen Motorsport. He finished fourteenth with four point-scoring finishes, including being on the podium at his home round at Circuit Paul Ricard. He also contested a partial campaign in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps with Koiranen, finishing seventh with two podiums, both of which came at the Red Bull Ring.2013: Maiden victories in the Eurocup and Northern European Cup
Ocon remained in the series for 2013, switching to the ART Junior Team. He recorded one pole position and won two races including at Circuit Paul Ricard, finishing the season in third place behind Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland. A partial campaign in the Northern European Cup produced a race win at the Hockenheimring and two further podiums.Formula Three (2013–2014)
2013: F3 debut at Macau
Ocon made his debut in Formula Three machinery at the 2013 Macau Grand Prix with Prema Powerteam. He stalled at the start of the main race but went on to finish tenth.2014: Maiden title in FIA European F3
Ocon continued his collaboration with Prema into the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. He topped the standings at the first round at Silverstone Circuit and remained in the lead of the championship for the rest of the season. With two rounds to spare, he made a brief appearance in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Comtec Racing. Ocon was crowned FIA Formula 3 European champion with three races remaining, ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen. He finished on the podium in twenty-one of the thirty-three races, winning nine, and recorded fifteen pole positions. Ocon made a second appearance at the Macau Grand Prix in 2014. He qualified fourth for the main race but was eliminated by a multi-car collision on the first lap.GP3 Series (2015)
Ocon moved to the GP3 Series for 2015 with ART Grand Prix. Despite only scoring one race victory, he won the championship by eight points ahead of Luca Ghiotto. Ocon recorded three pole positions and fourteen podium finishes from eighteen races.DTM (2016)
Ocon drove for Mercedes-Benz in the first ten races of the 2016 DTM season, alongside his Formula One reserve driver role at Renault. He scored two points finishing ninth in the first race at Circuit Zandvoort, before he was promoted to a Formula 1 race seat. He was replaced by Felix Rosenqvist following his promotion.Formula One career
Ocon's first experience of a Formula One car was on 22 October 2014, driving the Lotus E20 at Circuit Ricardo Tormo as part of a two-day test for Lotus F1 Team. A week later, he completed a test in the Ferrari F10 at Fiorano Circuit as a prize for his FIA Formula 3 European title. In November, Ocon made his Grand Prix weekend debut for Lotus during the first practice session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.In May 2015, Ocon was called up by Force India to drive at the post-race test in Barcelona, after Pascal Wehrlein was forced to withdraw due to illness. Prior to him claiming the GP3 title, it was announced that Ocon would enter the Mercedes Junior Team. In February 2016, it was announced that Ocon would also act as reserve driver for the Renault Sport F1 team for the season. He took part in Friday practice sessions at four Grands Prix for the team.
Manor (2016)
On 10 August 2016, Rio Haryanto was dropped from the backmarker Manor Racing team after his sponsors had failed to meet their contractual obligations. Ocon was named as his replacement for the second half of the season, driving alongside Pascal Wehrlein. Ocon made his Formula One debut at the, finishing sixteenth. He earned his best result of twelfth in the rain-affected Brazilian Grand Prix, dropping out of the points positions on the final lap. This result placed Ocon 23rd in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of Haryanto.Force India (2017–2018)
2017 season
On 10 November 2016, Force India announced that they had signed Ocon for the season as part of his multi-year contract with Mercedes, with Sergio Pérez as his new teammate. Ocon scored his first Formula One point in his first race for Force India at the, and scored points at the next four races including fifth place at the.Following a twelfth place finish at the, Ocon recorded twelve consecutive points finishes but was often involved in incidents with teammate Pérez. At the, Pérez ignored requests from the team to let Ocon past to challenge Daniel Ricciardo for third place. The two drivers collided at the, forcing Pérez into retirement and giving Ocon a puncture. They made contact again at the, where Ocon was squeezed towards a wall leading up to the Eau Rouge complex. Ocon later remarked that he was "furious" with Pérez and that he "risked lives". Force India team owner Vijay Mallya stated that the repeated incidents were "very concerning" and that he would enforce team orders thereon.
Ocon started the in third place after the Red Bull drivers faced penalties, the highest grid position of his career. He went on to finish the race sixth. He spent much of the in third place and eventually finished fifth. His streak of finishing twenty-seven consecutive races ended at the, where he collided with Romain Grosjean on the first lap. He finished his first full season in Formula One eighth in the drivers' championship, scoring 87 points to Pérez's 100.
2018 season
Ocon continued alongside Pérez at Force India in. Ocon's first points of the season came with a tenth-place finish at the. At the, he was involved in a first-lap collision with Kimi Räikkönen that ended his race, whilst teammate Pérez went on to claim a podium finish. Ocon retired with an oil leak at the next race, the. He recorded five more points finishes before the summer break, but retired from his home race, the, after a first-lap collision with Pierre Gasly.After Force India's financial collapse and the purchasing of its assets by Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll – father of Williams driver Lance Stroll – during the summer break, the new owners confirmed that Ocon and Pérez would remain with the team for the rest of the season. It was later revealed that Ocon had an "informal agreement" to join Renault for before the team unexpectedly signed Daniel Ricciardo, leaving Ocon's future in doubt.
At Racing Point Force India's first race, the, Ocon achieved the joint-highest starting position of his career with third and went on to finish sixth. Ocon and Pérez collided on the first lap of the, causing Ocon to crash into a wall and end his race. The team described the collision as "unacceptable" and banned the drivers from racing each other. Pérez later apologised for his role in the accident. Ocon was disqualified from eighth place at the after his car was found to have exceeded fuel flow limits. At the, he collided with race leader Max Verstappen whilst attempting to un-lap himself, damaging both cars. Both drivers were able to continue racing and Ocon received a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for the incident. They argued just after the race and pushed each other several times. Both drivers were summoned by the FIA and Verstappen was ordered to undertake two days of public service "at the discretion of the FIA" for making deliberate physical contact with Ocon.
Ocon finished the season twelfth in the drivers' championship, scoring 49 points to Pérez's 62.