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The Haas Formula 1 team has moved to secure Esteban Ocon on a multi-year deal, meaning it will field Ocon and Ferrari protege Ollie Bearman from 2025.
But is that a good move for Haas and is it the right team for Ocon? And are tensions inevitable?
Here's what our writers think:
The new line-up has a higher upside
Scott Mitchell-Malm
This move is great for Haas if it can get the best out of Ocon - who seemed to grow then shrink in the Renault works team as its inherent chaos gradually complicated things and moved him from the spotlight to Pierre Gasly's shadow.
It creates a more rounded pairing than Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen with a higher upside. It's not guaranteed to be better straight out the blocks - although it might be if Ocon adjusts well and Bearman gets up to speed as quickly as he did for Ferrari in Jeddah! - but it could be a great long-term option for a team that 12 months ago could never have justifiably attracted two drivers of this quality.
And as a pairing, it's going to be quite fun to watch. There could easily be half a dozen weekends or more next year where if the car is good enough they'll have both in Q3, scoring good points, as the peaks of both should be very high.
There might also be times they run into each other, as Bearman's youthful ambition clashes with occasional Ocon over-aggression. Komatsu is chasing the upside, though, and backing himself and the team to handle it. Knowing Ocon of old, having engineered him in his first ever F1 test back in 2014, might help with that, as could being the team boss who has pushed so hard to sign him in this wild driver market.
HE CAN'T AFFORD TO BE OVERSHADOWED BY BEARMAN
Matt Beer
Esteban Ocon absolutely deserves another Formula 1 seat.
But he's in that mid-career point where F1 knows enough about his strengths and weaknesses, and he's driven for or been affiliated with enough teams in enough states of competitiveness, that his place in F1 history seems pretty clear: a decent one-time grand prix winner who wasn't an absolute top liner.
Nothing wrong with that at all and there could be many more years of making handy contributions to Haas-level teams ahead for him yet.
Get clearly overshadowed by a rookie team-mate though, and that could change.
The perfect upgrade on Magnussen
Edd Straw
In signing Ocon, Haas gets the perfect upgrade from Kevin Magnussen. He could be said to be an even better version of the combative Dane. He's experienced but at 27 still hugely motivated to make his mark in F1, capable of tremendous speed and at times miraculous defensive drives, Ocon will deliver some big results for Haas.
He can be a little inconsistent and there will be a few bad weekends, but his strike rate is generally higher than Magnussen’s. He will also have events where he drags every last iota performance out of the car - although this hasn’t happened frequently enough to lead to an opportunity with a top team.
Yes, Ocon will fight his corner hard in the team and that has occasionally led to fireworks in the past, but perhaps that’s to be expected for a driver who had to battle for everything on his unlikely path to F1. Reaching the top depended on success at every level, even to advance to the top echelons of karting let alone scale the single-seater ladder.
With Haas likely to be in the tightly-contested midfield next year, the edge Ocon gives it means it has also replaced Nico Hulkenberg very effectively. And after years battling with the complexity and politics of Renault’s F1 team, a move into a more pure racing team should mean Ocon is able to be at his best at Haas and therefore perhaps could go on to produce his best work there.
Ocon's facing a different kind of threat
Glenn Freeman
Ocon is too talented to drop off the grid, so it’s good he’s found a new home post-Alpine.
He’s the perfect benchmark for rookie team-mate Bearman. We know Ocon’s level now - capable of being very good, but not great - so we’ll get an accurate read on how Bearman is shaping up very quickly in his first season.
But the perfect benchmark can also eventually be bad news, especially given Ocon has previously been a difficult team-mate. So far he’s always had established drivers as his team-mates (bar a brief stint alongside Pascal Wehrlein at Manor) and he’s never minded getting into a scrap with them if he wants to dig his heels in.
So how’s he going to handle clearly being the senior driver at a smaller team? It should be fine if he has the edge on Bearman, but if they end up contesting the same bits of racetrack, will he view Bearman as a threat to his F1 career?
The tensions won't only come from Ocon...
Josh Suttill
I do think Ocon's reputation has been unfairly tainted over the years. Yes, there's been clashes with team-mates Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly but they weren't all Ocon-instigated, yet he's the one left with that 'difficult' tag.
And in this new Haas line-up, Ocon isn't the only potential source of tension.
Don't forget alongside him is a driver in Bearman who is going to have to beat him or at worst consistently match him if he's to convince Ferrari that he's ultimately the right man to replace Lewis Hamilton.
That could easily be the source of some intra-team tension, especially when you consider Ferrari will have Leclerc-Hamilton at least until the end of 2026, if not longer.
Just look at how tense George Russell felt by the end of his three-year Williams apprenticeship.
Ocon and Bearman are going into Haas with very different goals. It's essentially Perez versus Ocon at Force India all those years ago. It worked out for the senior party that time while the junior found himself out of favour with the manufacturer that had placed him there.
The outcome this time remains to be seen and whether like at Force India, there will be plenty of tensions and needle from both sides before we get there.
The safe option over something more exciting
Gary Anderson
In the end Haas has gone with someone with experience to help Bearman find his feet.
In the past Ocon has been a difficult team-mate, perhaps he has learned his lesson, but the jury is very much still out on that one.
There are other up-and-coming drivers out there like Bearman who deserve the chance and would have done a good job as a hungry all-rookie line-up.
However it’s also always easier and safer to play musical chairs with the drivers already involved, so less risk, but less reward.
