Esteban Ocon has insisted that his departure from Haas is not due to underperformance on his part, and that he is not seeking drives outside of Formula 1. The French driver stated that his focus remains on F1, where he believes he belongs.
"My focus is on Formula 1," Ocon said in Malaysia. "That is clear, that's where I belong, that's where I want to be. So I'm not going to look elsewhere. But you never know what can happen in Formula 1. As you guys know, things move every two seconds. So I'm still working on trying to find a solution for next year. For now, our focus is that and to do well on track. I think we've done pretty well in the last races and, for me, that's the best way to show that I still deserve to be in Formula 1. Of course, I need the car [to be competitive], which we didn't have for many, many races, including last year. So if we have that, it should work, as it did in Baku, as it did in Madrid. We'll see."
Ocon's exit from Haas had been long rumored in the paddock and was finally confirmed this week. He spent two up-and-down seasons with the American team after moving from Alpine, where he spent five years before falling out of favor with the management regime led by Flavio Briatore. With Alpine, Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix from eighth on the grid, holding on tenaciously to track position gained through the first-corner carnage triggered by Valtteri Bottas. However, his consistency has often been questioned; when he is good, he is very good indeed, but when he is bad, the results are highly sub-optimal.
At Haas, Ocon struggled with a car riddled with inconsistencies, while teammate Oliver Bearman generally wrangled better results from the same machinery and invested less energy in complaining about them. As an independent team, Haas is among the least well-funded on the grid, so it has often fallen behind over the course of a season through being unable to add significant performance through updates. Last year, the VF-25 car suffered unexpected aerodynamic oscillations at high speeds and was unable to run the low rear ride heights required to maximise ground effect. Ocon also complained regularly about instability under braking which came and went unexpectedly. After Friday practice in Abu Dhabi last year, he told Canal+ he "felt like a rookie who's never driven an F1 car". But for the following days the issues absented themselves and Ocon qualified eighth, then raced to seventh.
"For the past 10 races we should have been performing like that," he said afterwards. "We clearly missed out on something. It leaves a bittersweet taste." Missed opportunities have been a recurring theme throughout the 2026 season as the VF-26 has also experienced similar issues. Nevertheless, Ocon remains confident that with the right car, he can prove his ability. He pointed to performances in Baku and Madrid as examples of when everything clicked.
Ocon's F1 future remains uncertain, but he is adamant about not seeking options outside the series. With the driver market moving quickly, opportunities could arise at any moment. However, he is aware that on-track performance is key to convincing teams that he still deserves a seat. Meanwhile, Haas will continue to battle with limited resources, and Ocon hopes to end the season strongly to bolster his position.
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