Haas Replaces Ocon With Hirakawa for Mexico GP F1 Debut
Haas has replaced Esteban Ocon with reserve driver Ryō Hirakawa for the rest of the 2026 Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, putting the 32-year-old Japanese driver in line for his Formula 1 race debut on Sunday.
The change applies from Saturday, October 31, through the 71-lap race on Sunday, November 1. Hirakawa will drive alongside Ollie Bearman in final practice, qualifying and the grand prix, according to the official Haas announcement.
What Haas announced — and what it did not
Haas described Hirakawa as Ocon’s replacement for the remainder of the weekend but did not give a reason for the change. The team ended its short statement by saying it would make no further comment at this time. With no official explanation available, it would be wrong to attribute the decision to illness, injury, discipline or any other cause.
The switch is especially notable because Ocon had been back in the VF-26 on Friday afternoon. He sat out the opening practice session as part of a previously planned reserve-driver run, then completed 32 laps in FP2 and finished 13th with a 1:18.774, according to Haas’s Friday practice recap.
Hirakawa already has current-car mileage
Hirakawa’s Friday outing gives him at least one useful reference point before taking over the race seat. He completed 30 laps in FP1, set a best time of 1:19.982 on the medium tire and finished 15th. Haas said the car ran without an issue during his program. It was his third practice appearance of the season in the VF-26, following earlier sessions in Austria and Hungary.
That experience cannot fully replace a normal race-weekend build-up. Hirakawa missed FP2’s qualifying simulations and high-fuel running, so Saturday’s final practice will have to serve several jobs at once: acclimatization, setup work and preparation for qualifying. He will also need to complete the usual race-start and procedural work with limited track time.
A decorated endurance racer steps into F1
Although this will be Hirakawa’s first Formula 1 start, he is not a rookie in top-level international racing. Haas highlighted his 2022 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and his FIA World Endurance Championship titles in 2022 and 2023 with Toyota Gazoo Racing. Those achievements show experience with long races, traffic management and high-pressure factory programs, even if an F1 weekend presents a different technical and sporting challenge.
Hirakawa now joins a small group of drivers whose first grand prix start came after substantial careers in other major championships. The immediate benchmark will be Bearman, who has driven the Haas throughout the season and completed both Friday sessions in Mexico.
Ocon’s season-end departure is separate context
Haas had already announced on September 30 that it and Ocon would part ways after the 2026 season. That earlier announcement does not explain this weekend’s replacement, and the team has not connected the two decisions publicly.
The driver change also reshapes a busy Mexico weekend after Friday produced several other competitive and sporting developments. Our separate report covers the grid penalties for Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson and Charles Leclerc’s FP2 pace.
Featured image: Archive photograph of Ryō Hirakawa driving Alpine’s A525 in practice at the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix. It is illustrative and does not show the 2026 Haas VF-26 or the Mexico City event. Photo by Liauzh, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; source file.
