Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon
Main page
577805

Esteban Ocon

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Esteban Ocon

Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane (French pronunciation: [ɛs.te.ban ɔ.kɔ̃]; born 17 September 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Haas. Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine.

Born and raised in Normandy to a working-class family, Ocon began competitive kart racing aged nine, winning several national and international titles. Graduating to junior formulae in 2012, Ocon won his first title at the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema, ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen. Ocon then won the 2015 GP3 Series with ART, achieving 14 podiums in 18 races. A member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2015, Ocon made his Formula One debut at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix with Manor, replacing Rio Haryanto for the remainder of the 2016 season. He moved to Force India—who later became Racing Point—in 2017, partnering Sergio Pérez. Ocon left Racing Point at the end of 2018, becoming a reserve driver for Mercedes in 2019.

Ocon returned as a full-time driver with Renault in 2020, taking his maiden podium finish at the Sakhir Grand Prix. Retaining his seat for 2021, Ocon partnered Fernando Alonso at the re-branded Alpine, taking his maiden victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix. After a less successful 2022 campaign, during which he became the first teammate to outscore Alonso in the championship since Jenson Button in 2015, Ocon achieved his third podium at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. In 2024—his final season at Alpine—Ocon achieved his maiden fastest lap in the United States, followed by a fourth career podium at the rain-affected São Paulo Grand Prix. He left Alpine after the Qatar Grand Prix, moving to Haas for 2025 alongside Oliver Bearman.

As of the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix, Ocon has achieved one race win, one fastest lap and four podiums in Formula One. Ocon is contracted to remain at Haas until at least the end of the 2026 season.

Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane was born on 17 September 1996 in Évreux, Normandy to Sabrina Khelfane and Laurent Ocon, a mechanic who owns a garage in Évreux. His paternal family is originally from Málaga, Spain, and his mother has roots in Algeria. While competing in karting, his parents decided to sell their family home, which included his father's garage, to fund his karting career. After selling the house, they lived and travelled to races in a caravan Ocon also used as a motor home. Ocon admitted that he almost gave up on his racing career to work at McDonald's.

As of 2022, Ocon lives in Geneva, Switzerland. Besides his native French language, Ocon also speaks English, Spanish and Italian. In 2023 Ocon began a relationship with model, social media influencer, medical student and former Miss Côte d'Azur Flavy Barla having split with his previous girlfriend Elena Berri (whom he had started dating in 2018) earlier in 2023.

Ocon entered karting in 2006, when he finished eighth in the Minime class of the French Championship. He won the championship in 2007 and continued his success by winning the Cadet class in 2008 ahead of Anthoine Hubert and Pierre Gasly. He then spent three years racing in the KF3 category and competed in the Spanish Championship and Italian Open Masters. He won the French KF3 title in 2010 and finished as runner-up in the WSK Euro Series in 2011 behind Max Verstappen. At the age of 14, Ocon was signed by Gravity Sports management, a sister company of Renault F1 team.

In 2012, Ocon made his debut in single-seaters, taking part in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with Koiranen Motorsport. He finished fourteenth with four point-scoring finishes, including being on the podium at his home round at Circuit Paul Ricard. He also contested a partial campaign in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps with Koiranen, finishing seventh with two podiums, both of which came at the Red Bull Ring.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.