Esteban Ocon sings praises of young “hooligan” teammate Oliver Bearman

Esteban Ocon moved from Alpine to Haas for the 2025 F1 season. The American team featured an all-new driver lineup as Icon paired with F1 rookie Oliver Bearman for the current season. The French driver recently came out and hailed his young teammate while calling him a “hooligan”.

Esteban Ocon hasn't had a great relationship with his teammates over the last few years. The French driver had a strained relationship with Sergio Perez at Force India/Racing Point (now Aston Martin). Ocon’s relationship with Fernando Alonso at Alpine got off to a great start, where the two-time champion helped the French driver win the 2021 Hungarian GP.

However, it turned sour during the 2022 season as Esteban Ocon’s aggression against Alonso took a wrong turn. Pierre Gasly replaced Alonso at Alpine, and two French drivers also didn't get along well, with the crash between the two at the 2024 Monaco GP being the breaking point.

However, Ocon got off to a great start at Haas with Oliver Bearman as his teammate. While the two did collide at the British GP in sub-optimal conditions, the same was dealt with by Haas TP Ayao Komatsu, as there wasn't any effect on the relationship between Ocon and Bearman.

F1 Grand Prix Of Canada - Source: Getty

Esteban Ocon recently came out and spoke about his relationship with his newest teammate, as he said,

“We have a little bit of the same passion. Except that he's a hooligan! Because he's young, so he's experiencing... For example, at Goodwood, we had this challenge of who's going to bring back the biggest slick tyre after the run.” (via Autosport)

“He just figured out some ways of overthinking the computer on the gearbox and everything. He got his rear wheels up to 7th gear while he was doing 30kph. I would not have had the balls to do something like that! Even if you're doing 30, if your rear wheels are doing 280, the car can do some weird stuff. It was quite funny to see all that!” added Ocon

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“It hasn't changed”: Esteban Ocon on the crash with Oliver Bearman at Silverstone not affecting their relationship

Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman came together at the 2025 British GP. On a drying track after the heavy rain at the start of the race, the F1 rookie tried making a move on his teammate on the inside, as the two drivers collided, which led to a synchronised spin. Both were able to continue, but didn't score any points.

Ayao Komatsu called a meeting after the race and discussed the same. Ocon came out and detailed how the crash hasn't affected their relationship, as he said,

“It hasn't changed the relationship we have with Ollie. [With him] I probably have the best relationship out of all the team-mates I had. We really get along super well and it's nice to have such atmosphere inside the team and the track.”

Ocon currently sits P10 in the F1 Drivers' standings with 27 points, whereas rookie Bearman sits P19 with 8 points to his name.