Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane (; born 17 September 1996) is a French racing driver who competes in Formula One for Haas. Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with Alpine.
Born and raised in Normandy to a working-class family, Ocon began competitive kart racing aged nine, winning several national and international titles. Graduating to junior formulae in 2012, Ocon won his first title at the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship with Prema, ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen. Ocon then won the 2015 GP3 Series with ART, achieving 14 podiums in 18 races. A member of the Mercedes Junior Team since 2015, Ocon made his Formula One debut at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix with Manor, replacing Rio Haryanto for the remainder of the season. He moved to Force India—who later became Racing Point—in , partnering Sergio Pérez. Ocon left Racing Point at the end of , becoming a reserve driver for Mercedes in .
Ocon returned as a full-time driver with Renault in , taking his maiden podium finish at the . Retaining his seat for , Ocon partnered Fernando Alonso at the re-branded Alpine, taking his maiden victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix. After a less successful campaign, during which he became the first teammate to outscore Alonso in the championship since Jenson Button in , Ocon achieved his third podium at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. In —his final season at Alpine—Ocon achieved his maiden fastest lap in the United States, followed by a fourth career podium at the rain-affected . He left Alpine after the , moving to Haas for alongside Oliver Bearman.
As of the , Ocon has achieved race win, fastest lap and podiums in Formula One. Ocon is set to leave Haas at the end of the 2026 season.
Early and personal life Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane was born on 17 September 1996 in Évreux, Normandy to Sabrina Khelfane and Laurent Ocon, a mechanic who owns a garage in Évreux. His paternal family is originally from Málaga, Spain, and his mother has roots in Algeria. While competing in karting, his parents decided to sell their family home, which included his father's garage, to fund his karting career. After selling the house, they lived and travelled to races in a caravan Ocon also used as a motor home. Ocon admitted that he almost gave up on his racing career to work at McDonald's.
, Ocon lives in Geneva, Switzerland. Besides his native French language, Ocon also speaks English, Spanish and Italian. In 2023 Ocon began a relationship with model, social media influencer, medical student and former Miss Côte d'Azur Flavy Barla having split with his previous girlfriend Elena Berri (whom he had started dating in 2018) earlier in 2023.
Junior racing career Karting (2006–2011) Ocon entered karting in 2006, when he finished eighth in the Minime class of the French Championship. He won the championship in 2007 and continued his success by winning the Cadet class in 2008 ahead of Anthoine Hubert and Pierre Gasly. He then spent three years racing in the KF3 category and competed in the Spanish Championship and Italian Open Masters. He won the French KF3 title in 2010 and finished as runner-up in the WSK Euro Series in 2011 behind Max Verstappen. At the age of 14, Ocon was signed by Gravity Sports management, a sister company of Renault F1 team.
Formula Renault 2.0 (2012–2013) 2012: Junior formulae debut In 2012, Ocon made his debut in single-seaters, taking part in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 with Koiranen Motorsport. He finished fourteenth with four point-scoring finishes, including being on the podium at his home round at Circuit Paul Ricard. He also contested a partial campaign in the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps with Koiranen, finishing seventh with two podiums, both of which came at the Red Bull Ring.
2013: Maiden victories in the Eurocup and Northern European Cup Ocon remained in the series for 2013, switching to the ART Junior Team. He recorded one pole position and won two races including at Circuit Paul Ricard, finishing the season in third place behind Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland. A partial campaign in the Northern European Cup produced a race win at the Hockenheimring and two further podiums.
Formula Three (2013–2014) 2013: F3 debut at Macau
Ocon made his debut in Formula Three machinery at the 2013 Macau Grand Prix with Prema Powerteam. He stalled at the start of the main race but went on to finish tenth.
2014: Maiden title in FIA European F3
Ocon continued his collaboration with Prema into the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. He topped the standings at the first round at Silverstone Circuit and remained in the lead of the championship for the rest of the season. With two rounds to spare, he made a brief appearance in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series with Comtec Racing. Ocon was crowned FIA Formula 3 European champion with three races remaining, ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen. He finished on the podium in twenty-one of the thirty-three races, winning nine, and recorded fifteen pole positions. Ocon made a second appearance at the Macau Grand Prix in 2014. He qualified fourth for the main race but was eliminated by a multi-car collision on the first lap.
GP3 Series (2015) Ocon moved to the GP3 Series for 2015 with ART Grand Prix. Despite only scoring one race victory (two other victories were denied due to penalties), he won the championship by eight points ahead of Luca Ghiotto. Ocon recorded three pole positions and fourteen podium finishes (including nine consecutive second-places) from eighteen races.
DTM (2016) Ocon drove for Mercedes-Benz in the first ten races of the 2016 DTM season, alongside his Formula One reserve driver role at Renault. He scored two points finishing ninth in the first race at Circuit Zandvoort, before he was promoted to a Formula 1 race seat. He was replaced by Felix Rosenqvist following his promotion.
Formula One career Test driver (2014–2016)
Ocon was signed to Lotus F1 Team's driver development programme in 2010 whilst he was competing in karting. In October 2014, as a reward for winning the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Lotus gave him his first experience of a Formula One car; he completed a two-day test at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, driving the 2012 Lotus E20. A week later, he completed another test as a prize for his championship victory, driving the 2010 Ferrari F10 at Fiorano Circuit. In November, Ocon made his Grand Prix weekend debut for Lotus during the first practice (FP1) session at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
In May 2015, Ocon entered into an agreement with Mercedes; he would receive the team's support for his upcoming GP3 Series campaign and would also serve as Mercedes' test and reserve driver in the DTM championship. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described Ocon as "mega-talented" and commented that the team would be "watching [his] progress with a lot of interest". Shortly afterwards, Ocon was called up by Force India to drive the VJM08 at the in-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after Pascal Wehrlein was forced to withdraw due to illness. He completed another test for Force India at the Red Bull Ring in June. In November, Mercedes exercised a contract option to retain Ocon as part of their programme.
In February 2016 it was announced that Ocon would be loaned to Renault, formerly Lotus, to act as their reserve driver for the season. He made four FP1 appearances for Renault at the Spanish, British, Hungarian and German Grands Prix. He drove a Mercedes for the first time in July, piloting the championship-leading W07 at the in-season test at Silverstone Circuit and setting the fastest time on the final morning of the test.
Manor (2016) 2016 season
In August 2016, Rio Haryanto was dropped from the backmarker Manor Racing team after his sponsors had failed to meet their contractual obligations. Ocon was named as his replacement for the second half of the season, driving alongside fellow Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein. Ocon made his Formula One debut at the , qualifying eighteenth and finishing sixteenth. He earned his best result of twelfth in the rain-affected Brazilian Grand Prix, dropping out of the points positions on the final lap. He then finished thirteenth at the season-ending . These results placed Ocon 23rd in the Drivers' Championship, ahead of Haryanto, who had recorded a best finish of fifteenth place.
Force India (2017–2018) 2017 season
Amidst speculation that he would be promoted to a Renault race seat for , Ocon expressed a desire to be part of the team's long-term future and described himself as "a Renault driver, but managed by Mercedes". Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul stated that Ocon was still a candidate for a seat at the team despite his Mercedes links. In November 2016, it was announced that Mercedes engine customer Force India had signed Ocon on a multi-year contract, with Sergio Pérez as his new teammate for the 2017 season.
Ocon scored his first Formula One point in his first race for Force India, finishing tenth at the . He followed this with four further points finishes including a career-best fifth place at the . Following a twelfth place finish at the , Ocon recorded twelve consecutive points finishes but was often involved in incidents with teammate Pérez. At the , Pérez ignored requests from the team to let Ocon past to challenge Daniel Ricciardo for third place. The two drivers collided at the , forcing Pérez into retirement and giving Ocon a puncture. They made contact at the and then again at the , where Ocon was squeezed towards a wall leading up to the Eau Rouge complex. Ocon later remarked that he was "furious" with Pérez and that he "risked [their] lives". Force India team owner Vijay Mallya stated that the repeated incidents were "very concerning" and that he would enforce team orders thereon.
Ocon started the in third place after the Red Bull drivers faced penalties, the highest grid position of his career. He went on to finish the race sixth. He spent much of the in third place and eventually finished fifth. His streak of finishing twenty-seven consecutive races ended at the , where he collided with Romain Grosjean on the first lap. He finished his first full season in Formula One eighth in the World Drivers' Championship, scoring 87 points to Pérez's 100. A poll of the Formula One team principals ranked Ocon the fifth-best driver of the season. James Allen of Motorsport.com also placed Ocon in his top five, remarking that "by the second half of the season Ocon was beating Pérez regularly".
2018 season
Ocon continued alongside Pérez at Force India in . Ocon's first points of the season came with a tenth-place finish at the . At the , he was involved in a first-lap collision with Kimi Räikkönen that ended his race, whilst teammate Pérez went on to claim a podium finish. Ocon retired with an oil leak at the next race, the . He recorded five more points finishes before the summer break, including sixth-place finishes at the Monaco and Austrian Grands Prix, but retired from his home race, the , after a first-lap collision with Pierre Gasly.
Following the in July, Force India's financial problems had forced it into administration. The team's assets were purchased by a consortium of investors led by businessman Lawrence Stroll — father of Williams driver Lance Stroll — and a new entry was formed under the name Racing Point Force India. The new owners would retain Ocon and Pérez for the remainder of the season.