Ocon lifts lid on private Hamilton conversation after Haas exit announcement
Photo: Race Pictures
Kieran is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs and feature content across the F1 calendar. An NQJ-qualified journalist with more than a decade of experience, he has previously written for publications including MailOnline, the Manchester Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press.
Esteban Ocon has revealed Lewis Hamilton sought him out during the United States Grand Prix weekend, which was the first race after Haas announced his replacement for the 2027 season.
The Frenchman announced at the end of September that he would be leaving the team at the end of the current campaign, with Rafael Camara announced as his replacement before the last race in Austin.
During the US Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton was seen speaking to Ocon, and the Frenchman has now revealed that Hamilton came up to him to speak about the situation and how things unfolded.
Ocon told the media ahead of this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix: “Yeah, Lewis came to me actually in Austin. We chatted a little bit about the situation and how things went." Ocon added that it was 'nice' of Hamilton to make the effort, after he previously revealed that only Lance Stroll contacted him in the aftermath of the news that Haas had decided to replace him.
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Ocon makes bold claim over Haas form
Ocon also told the media that he was satisfied with how often he extracted the most from his Haas car this season, after he was asked whether he felt he could have done anything differently.
“There are always little things you can do differently, but not really. I think I’m happy with how I’ve maximised the performance of the car, whatever that performance was. I’m not going to say I did it every single race — that would be a lie — but I’ve done it quite a few times,” Ocon said.
He added that he believed he had done so more often than in some of his previous seasons, including 2022 and 2023, which he described as very good years for him. Ocon acknowledged there were always things he could do better, but did not feel there was one major factor he had been missing.
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