When Esteban Ocon signed with Haas a year ago, he was looking for a healthier working environment than the one he left in Alpine. In the middle of 2025, he thinks that this decision bears his fruit – both in terms of results and the atmosphere inside the team.
Having already undergone turbulent relations with teammates such as Pierre Gasly at Alpine and Sergio Perez by force India, Ocon says that he now really likes to work alongside Oliver Bearman. The French underlines the couple’s shared enthusiasm for the race – and the absence of a policy – as the foundation of their solid partnership.
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“We have a little of the same passion,” said Ocon at Motorsport.com. “Except that he is a hooligan! Because he is young, so he lives … for example, in Goodwood, we had this challenge of who will bring the biggest smooth tire after the race.”
Bearman finally won this battle, producing viral social media clips in Goodwood while he was transformed the damp tires of his Haas VF-23 into Slicks with massive exhaustion.
“He just understood a few ways to think too much about the computer on the gearbox and everything. He raised his rear wheels to the seventh speed while he was 30 km / h.
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“I wouldn’t have had the balls to do something like that! Even if you do 30, if your rear wheels are 280, the car can do strange things. It was quite funny to see all of this!”
The owner of the Haas team, Ayao Komatsu, also praised the two pilots for their collaboration, pointing to the example set at Spa when Ocon voluntarily left Bearman without a team order. Even their confrontation in Silverstone, which cost Haas’s potential points, was quickly treated: the pair and Komatsu sat together after the race, and the incident was barely mentioned in the media.
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“I did not think about it, but it is actually a good point,” said Ocon when asked if it was surprised that Silverstone did not degenerate the way in which similar flash points had with Gasly or Perez.
“It is because, you know, we are very straight and honest between ourselves and immediately after the race, we sat with Ayao there and we talked about different conditions, what we could have done better to avoid this scenario, where we should have taken care a little more and [at] Which part of the area.
“It hasn’t changed the fundamental thing. We just learned a little more what we can do in these kinds of situations.
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“It has not changed the relationship we have with Ollie. [With him] I probably have the best relationship of all the teammates I had.
“We hear ourselves really very well and it is good to have such an atmosphere inside the team and the track. With the team pattern too – because sometimes the boss of the team can be quite disconnected from what is happening inside the engineering room. We are all united, which is good.”
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