Haas drops Ocon for Hirakawa, who makes his F1 race debut in Mexico

Haas has pulled Esteban Ocon from the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend and put reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa in his car. Hirakawa will partner Oliver Bearman from third practice, which starts at 11:30 local time on Saturday (17:30 UTC), through qualifying and Sunday's 71-lap race. Haas says the race will be Hirakawa's Formula 1 race debut, and confirmed only that Ocon's absence is not due to illness.

Portrait of Ryo Hirakawa taken at the World Endurance Championship round at Fuji — Ryo Hirakawa at the WEC round in Fuji, September 2024. This is an older photo from outside his current Haas role. Photo: Morio, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

What Haas said, and what it didn't

The Haas statement, as quoted by The Race and Autosport, says Hirakawa will replace Ocon "for the remainder of the weekend's Mexico City Grand Prix." He will run alongside Bearman in final practice and qualifying on Saturday and in Sunday's 71-lap race, which the team describes as his Formula 1 race debut. The statement closes with "No further statements will be made at this time."

According to Autosport, Haas later added that it had no comment beyond the statement other than to confirm the move is not due to illness. No reason for the change has been given. The Race wrote that "it is logical therefore to reason that he appears to have been benched", which is the outlet's own reading and not Haas's explanation. Haas has also declined to comment on its line-up for the next race in Brazil.

What happened on Friday

Hirakawa drove Ocon's VF-26 in Friday's FP1. The Haas statement says it was his third practice outing of the season and that he finished 15th overall, and Autosport described it as part of the rookie-mandate requirement for FP1. Ocon's only running on Friday was FP2, where he finished 13th.

The Race also reported the FP2 radio exchange. Race engineer Laura Mueller told him: "We've swapped the high fuel run to medium because Ollie's [tyre] appearance is not great." Ocon asked, "Still doing soft, right?" and was told, "No, we have to do medium." He replied: "No, no, I wanted the soft, like, don't do that to me. Come on." Autosport also described a spat over whether to stay on the soft tyre or switch to the medium. Neither outlet confirmed the exchange as the reason for the change.

What the paddock is saying

With no official reason given, theories have filled the gap. Everything below is unconfirmed, and Haas has responded to none of it.

A debrief argument: Germany's SPEEDWEEK relays unconfirmed paddock talk of a row in the team debrief after FP2, and suggests team principal Ayao Komatsu would not tolerate such behaviour with team owner Gene Haas on site. It adds that it is not yet clear whether this is a one-weekend penalty or, in effect, a sacking.
Family reasons: RacingNews365 says it is unclear whether internal tension or something else, such as a family matter, is behind it.
Bearman's salary: On the same day, social media claimed Haas was refusing to pay Bearman a 6 million salary (reported in euros or dollars depending on the outlet) for 2027. According to SPEEDWEEK, Komatsu dismissed the Bearman contract rumours as "complete rubbish". No report ties that story directly to Ocon's removal.

A 2027 seat that was already settled

The Race reports that Haas announced Ocon's exit at the end of September and had already chosen Ferrari junior Rafael Camara for 2027, ahead of candidates including Toyota-backed Hirakawa. According to RACER, Haas picked Camara after running him, Jack Doohan, Leonardo Fornaroli and Hirakawa in a shootout test at Portimão in early September. SPEEDWEEK writes that Ocon has known since late September that the team no longer wanted him. Autosport said Hirakawa was a contender for the 2027 seat before losing out to Camara, and that he has taken part in seven FP1 sessions as a Haas reserve.

Hirakawa is 32, a two-time WEC champion and a Le Mans 24 Hours winner with Toyota. The Race wrote that he would be the oldest F1 debutant since Andre Lotterer, who was also 32 when he debuted for Caterham at the 2014 Belgian GP. Autosport compared Ocon's replacement to the end of his Alpine spell in 2024, when he was replaced by Jack Doohan for the Abu Dhabi finale.

The road to a debut at 32

Year	Career
2012	Japanese F3 and Porsche Carrera Cup Japan champion
2017	Super GT GT500 champion (TOM'S)
2022	Le Mans 24 Hours winner, WEC drivers' champion (Toyota #8)
2023	Second straight WEC drivers' title
2024	McLaren reserve, first F1 practice outing in Abu Dhabi
2025	Japanese GP practice as Alpine reserve, joined Haas in April
2026	Haas reserve, race debut at the Mexico City GP

According to RacingNews365, Hirakawa has raced in Super Formula since 2013, finishing runner-up in 2020 with four wins, and his move to Haas came as the team deepened its technical partnership with Toyota. Toyota Gazoo Racing is now Haas's title sponsor. In early September, Toyota Racing technical director David Floury said "we already have a plan in mind" should Hirakawa secure an F1 drive, with reserve Esteban Masson tipped as his replacement (Sportscar365). He lost the 2027 Haas seat to Camara, yet he gets his debut first, in the car of the very driver that seat belonged to.

A WEC title decider a week later

The schedule is tight. Next Sunday, 8 November, Hirakawa fights for the WEC drivers' title at the 6 Hours of Monza, the season finale. According to Toyota, the #8 car he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley leads the sister #7 car by 17 points. He goes straight from his first grand prix to defending an endurance crown.

What to watch

Friday was not smooth for Haas either. In team comments published by Formula1.com, Bearman said that after FP1 ended with a power unit problem, "we lost our latest spec engine, so we're having to revert to the previous one." Hirakawa now has one hour of FP3 before qualifying at 15:00 local time (21:00 UTC). If the reports from Autosport and The Race hold, Sunday's race will be his first in Formula 1.