Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon, born on 17 September 1996 in Évreux, France, began karting in 2006. To fund his career, his parents sold their house and garage and lived for a time in a caravan, travelling with the family from track to track. In 2010 he joined the Lotus junior programme.

In 2014 he won the European Formula 3 Championship, beating Max Verstappen among others to the title, and the GP3 Series in 2015. He made his Formula 1 debut mid-season for Manor in 2016 before moving to Force India in 2017, where intense wheel-to-wheel battles with team-mate Sergio Pérez marked him out as a rising talent. After Lawrence Stroll took over the financially troubled team in 2018 and installed his son Lance in the seat, Ocon spent 2019 as Mercedes’ reserve driver.

He returned to Formula 1 with Renault in 2020, and in 2021 took his only win to date at the Hungarian Grand Prix after a chaotic start, the brand’s first win since Fernando Alonso’s success in 2008. Alongside Alonso (2021-2022) and later Pierre Gasly (2023-2024), with whom he shared a well-known rivalry from their junior days, he added further podiums, including third place in Monaco in 2023, the first French podium there since Olivier Panis in 1996.

Ocon moved to Haas in 2025, where his best result of the season was fifth place in China. He gave his 2021 Hungary-winning car to his parents in thanks for their sacrifices during his junior career.