The Haas Formula 1 team on Thursday announced it signed Esteban Ocon as a driver.
Haas signed a multiyear contract with Ocon that will see the young Frenchman start driving for the American squad in 2025.
The news isn't a huge surprise as Ocon previously worked with Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu, and was rumored for a seat at the team ever since his current employer, Alpine, announced in June it would drop him after 2024. Komatsu was Ocon's race engineer during a test with Lotus in 2014.
Alpine hasn't announced a replacement for Ocon, though Team Principal Bruno Famin previously mentioned Mick Schumacher, the son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher and a current reserve driver at Mercedes-Benz AMG, as a potential driver for the squad.
At Haas, Ocon will replace Kevin Magnussen who the team announced last week would leave the squad after 2024. Magnussen aims to stay in F1 but hasn't announced any future plans.
Haas' other driver in 2024 is Nico Hülkenberg, who in April announced he will leave the team after the current season to join Sauber, which becomes Audi in 2026.
Haas in early July named Oliver Bearman as the replacement for Hülkenberg. The promising driver currently serves as a reserve for Ferrari, a team with close links to Haas, including the supply of power units.
Ocon first entered F1 in 2016 as a driver for Manor. He joined Force India the following year and after a year's hiatus in 2019, where he served as a Mercedes reserve, he joined Renault in 2020 and stayed with the squad after it was rebranded Alpine in 2021. He's the most successful driver to join Haas thanks to his single victory, which took place at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
