Days after saying that he is a "free agent" for 2027, Haas has announced that Esteban Ocon will leave at season end.

Ocon joined Haas in 2025 from Alpine, the American team recording its second-best points total in 10 seasons of competition as a constructor.

He currently has 39 race starts to his credit for Haas from a combined total of 195, scoring 490 career points, inclusive of his stand-out victory at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.

“I’d like to thank Esteban for everything he’s contributed to the team since joining us in 2025," said Ayao Komatsu. "His professionalism and commitment have proved valuable as we continue to grow as an organization.

"Together this year we tackled the challenge of a major regulation change, where Esteban’s driving experience and inputs were significant as we’ve worked hard to develop the VF-26 across the season.

"There’s still plenty of racing ahead, and our focus remains on working together to maximize every opportunity through to the final race of the year.”

Over the last two seasons, Ocon has been regularly out-performed by his less experienced teammate, Oliver Bearman, and it is telling that there are no comments from the Frenchman as part of the team's press release.

Instead, Ocon issued a statement of his own.

"I leave this project with my head held high and proud of my performances in what were not always the easiest of circumstances for various reasons and factors outside of my control," it reads.

"My immediate focus is the next race weekend. I will continue to work hard with the team, maximise every opportunity, and keep extracting every bit of performance from the car.

"There are still many races to go this season and, as always, I will give it my everything behind the wheel for myself and for my team.

"I am still motivated," he insists. "I am still hungry. This is absolutely not the end of my Formula 1 career."

It is widely expected that, F2 championship leader, Rafael Camara, will join Haas, the Brazilian, like Bearman, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy.

However, as far as Ocon is concerned, it currently appears that there are no F1 drives in the offing, though Cadillac has yet to officially confirm its line-up.