Haas complete F1 2025 driver line-up with Oliver Bearman team-mate found – report

Oliver Bearman takes to the kerb during his FP1 run for Haas at Imola

Esteban Ocon has signed a contract to become Oliver Bearman’s team-mate at Haas for the F1 2025 season, it has been claimed, with an announcement expected prior to the summer break.

Ocon‘s future had been uncertain since Alpine announced last month that the French driver will leave the team after five years at the conclusion of the F1 2024 campaign.

Esteban Ocon set to become Oliver Bearman’s Haas F1 2025 team-mate

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper

The 27-year-old had been linked with a number of teams including Williams and Audi, who will take over the existing Sauber team in time for the big F1 2026 regulation changes, who had identified Ocon as a potential alternative to top target Carlos Sainz.

However, a report by RN365 has claimed Ocon has agreed a multi-year deal to join Haas, who are poised to field an all-new driver lineup for the F1 2025 season after the signing of highly rated Ferrari junior Bearman was confirmed ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

The American team is expected to confirm the signing of the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix winner over the coming weeks.

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Haas had been searching for a new driver since Nico Hulkenberg announced in April that he will join Sauber on a multi-year deal from F1 2025, in effect becoming the first Audi F1 driver signing for 2026.

Ocon’s impending arrival means Hulkenberg’s current team-mate Kevin Magnussen is now almost certain to leave Haas at the end of the year, having scored just eight points over the last two seasons.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com at Silverstone on Friday, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu revealed the team were keen to appoint an experienced driver as Bearman’s F1 2025 team-mate, insisting a team of their stature “cannot have two rookies.”

He said: “Especially for a team like us, we cannot have two rookies.

“So now that we’ve taken Ollie as a rookie, we will try to appoint somebody who’s got decent F1 experience.”

Bearman, who impressed by finishing seventh in a Ferrari stand-in appearance for an unwell Sainz in Saudi Arabia earlier this season, echoed Komatsu’s stance, revealing that he is looking for “someone to learn from” ahead of his rookie season in F1 2025.

Asked if he would prefer to have Ocon or Magnussen as his F1 2025 team-mate, he told media including PlanetF1.com: “That’s a tough question. It’s not really up to me, first of all.

“Of course, in a team-mate, I’m looking for someone with experience and speed, someone to learn from.

“I think both of them have that trait and to be in F1, first of all you need to have those traits.”

The identity of Ocon’s replacement at Alpine remains unknown, with the Enstone-based team heavily linked with a move for Sainz over recent weeks.

It is thought that Alpine’s potential switch to Mercedes engines could give the French squad a crucial edge over Williams and Audi in the race to secure Sainz’s signature.

Meanwhile, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff claimed this week that the outgoing Ferrari driver remains a contender to succeed seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who announced in February that he will join the Scuderia on a multi-year contract from F1 2025.

Alpine announced at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix that Ocon’s current team-mate Pierre Gasly had committed his future to the team by signing a new multi-year deal.

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