Esteban Ocon reacts to losing Haas F1 seat to Ferrari junior for 2027

Esteban Ocon believes Rafael Camara is fully deserving of his Formula 1 shot with Haas but remains adamant he too belongs on the grid in 2027. 

The 30-year-old Frenchman has known for some time that he will be leaving Haas at the end of the current season, with Camara’s expected signing finally confirmed last week. 

Ferrari junior Camara has been selected as Ocon’s replacement and will make his F1 debut in 2027 alongside Ollie Bearman, who is yet to be formally announced for next year. 

Ocon has been left without a drive and while he is determined to stay in F1, his options of a full-time seat for 2027 are quickly dwindling. 

When it was put to him that this weekend could be his last United States Grand Prix, the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix winner replied: “Don't say that. I’m coming here to do the best job I can, try and exploit the maximum amount of the car. As I said, I deserve to be here in F1.

“There are many circumstances why I'm not here next year, but they are not the performance reasons. I've won everything, in every category I've done – in go-karts, in Formula Renault, in F3, in GP3, in F1.

“In all these categories, I've won races. So, just thinking of a sports perspective, I deserve to be in F1. And yeah, I believe that this is not my last year.”

Speaking about his replacement, Ocon added: “I can't say very much. What I will say is that Rafa deserves a shot in F1. I think he's shown in the [junior] categories that he's very good. But I don't deserve to be out of F1 at the same time. So that's it.

“I'm not here to say who deserves [to go and] who doesn’t. But just looking at the results, as I said, Rafa deserves a shot in F1 for sure.

“But I don't deserve to be out in the way that I've had at the moment. Of course, as I said I'm working on a solution for next year, and that's the main target to do well this weekend, and to do well in the next three.”