By Ciara Casey
After a tense weekend for Haas F1 team, they have decided to replace Esteban Ocon with rookie, Rafael Camara for the remainder of the 2026 season.
During the Friday session of FP2 during the Mexico Grand Prix weekend. Esteban and the team had a few disagreements over the team radio regarding the tyres Esteban was running during the session. Later, Ocon and some team members were seen in a heated argument in the teams hospitality presumably continuing the debate over what happened in the session.
Later that evening it was revealed that Ocon had left Mexico and therefore wasn’t going to be racing for the remainder of the weekend.
Haas had to take action and replaced Esteban Ocon with reserve driver Roy Hirakawa, the diver who tested for the team during FP1. Hirakawa had an impressive weekend for the American team finishing 10th and scoring a point.
Although Roy Hirakawa impressed for the team, he has his own race this weekend in the 6 hours of Monza, so unfortunately cannot continue to compete in formula one.
The only suitable choice for the team was to bring in the driver already signed for the 2027 season, Rafael Camara, to continue the remainder of the 2026 season. And continue into 2027 alongside teammate Ollie Bearman.
