Esteban Ocon

Why he matters

Ocon’s Hungary 2021 win is one of the great underdog stories of the modern era: a strategy-and-restart-shaped victory in a midfield car. He is the modern French successor to the Prost/Panis lineage, though he has yet to deliver a championship-contending season. His move to Haas for 2025, after a difficult split with Pierre Gasly at Alpine, refreshed his career.

How he drives

Ocon is hard. He’ll lean on a teammate at Turn 1 of a race start and will not yield positions cheaply. That trait sometimes turns into incidents; he and Gasly were involved in multiple intra-team contacts during their Alpine years.

Watch for

• Race starts. Ocon is one of the most aggressive openers on the grid.
• His battles with younger teammate Oliver Bearman. Bearman is fast, Ocon is the physical bench mark.
• Wet weather. Ocon is consistently a top-five wet-condition driver.