Did race engineer dispute lead to Esteban Ocon’s sudden Haas benching at F1 Mexico GP?
Esteban Ocon was involved with a dispute with his Haas race engineer on Friday.
Esteban Ocon suddenly being dropped from Haas’ Formula 1 driver line-up midway through the Mexico City Grand Prix has left plenty of unanswered questions.
In a dramatic development ahead of final practice on Saturday morning, Haas announced Ocon had been replaced by reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa with immediate effect for the remainder of the weekend.
No explanation was provided by Haas, who released a short statement confirming the change.
"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.”
A Haas spokesperson added the benching was “not due to illness”.
The lack of explanation surrounding Ocon’s sudden departure has fuelled speculation that a major fallout has occurred behind the scenes.
Ocon had a dispute with his race engineer Laura Mueller during second practice on Friday about tyre strategy.
The exchange over team radio went as follows:
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.”
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 during FP3, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu insisted: "I can't tell you much but at least I can tell you that he's not ill."
Asked if Ocon was 'not a happy man after practice', Komatsu replied: "Honestly, I'm sorry, but I cannot go into any details."
The move comes after Haas already announced that Ocon would be replaced with Ferrari junior Rafael Camara for 2027.
There are suggestions that Ocon may not return for the remaining four races of the current campaign. It has also been mooted that Haas may opt to hand Camara an early F1 debut at next weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil.
Pressed on this possibility, Komatsu remained unmoved: "Honestly on this I cannot say. We're just focused on what’s in front of us and getting Ryo in the best shape for this afternoon."
Ocon also has history when it comes to making an early exit from a team. In 2024, the Frenchman was replaced by Jack Doohan at Alpine for the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
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