French driver Esteban Ocon will leave the Alpine team in favor of Haas in the Formula 1 World Championship starting in 2025, the North American team announced on Thursday.
Okon, 27, will take over from Dane Cavin Magnussen, whose departure was announced last week.
The French driver has competed in 146 races since arriving in Formula 1 in 2016, driving for Manor, Force India, Renault and Alpine, scoring a total of 425 points and three podiums, including his only career win, which came at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
“I am delighted that we have secured the services of Esteban Ocon. I have known his talent for a long time. I was his engineer when he first drove a Formula 1 car,” explained Haas’s sporting director, Japanese Ayao Komatsu.
Ocon joins British newcomer Oliver Biermann, who will arrive in Formula 1 in 2025.
“It was important to have an experienced driver next to Oliver Biermann. But Ocon is only 27 years old, he is still young and has a lot to show,” Komatsu stressed.
The French driver stressed that he would be joining a “very ambitious team whose spirit, work ethic and drive to succeed” impressed him.
The contract is for a minimum of two years and the Frenchman will become the first winning driver in a Haas car.