Lewis Hamilton makes personal gesture to Esteban Ocon after Haas F1 exit

Lewis Hamilton reached out in person to commiserate with Esteban Ocon, the French driver has revealed, about the upcoming potential conclusion to his F1 career.

Ocon is without a seat on the grid for F1 2027, with Haas opting to part ways with the veteran in favour of rookie driver Rafa Camara.

Lewis Hamilton makes personal effort to support Esteban Ocon

After a decade in Formula 1, Ocon will step away from the grid in 2027, but has made it clear that he feels he still has more to give in the sport as he seeks a return to Formula 1 as soon as possible.

In five races’ time, Ocon will be forced to watch on from the sidelines, at least temporarily, and revealed during the United States Grand Prix that he had received little by way of support from his grid rivals.

“Of course I talk to some of the guys in private life,” Ocon said.

“Lance [Stroll] came to speak to me, for example. But I didn’t receive any messages from anyone.

“They haven’t texted me – supportive in the press. It’s fine. It’s not the end anyway.

“I’m not calling for any support from any drivers or whatever. That’s not what I need. It’s a difficult world for everybody in a way.

“We are all living in that same thing. If you don’t perform for three races, you are the worst. If you perform in three good races, you are the best. So, that’s the difficulty of the sport.”

But, while he may not have received any text messages from drivers following the confirmation from Haas that he will not retain his seat for next season, Ocon has revealed that Lewis Hamilton, a former Mercedes colleague of his from his time as reserve in 2019, had come to him to commiserate.

“Lewis came to me actually in Austin,” he said.

“We chatted a little bit about the situation and how things went, but nothing really to say much more. [But it was nice to make the effort], for sure. Yeah, definitely.”

Asked about what he had said to Ocon when he appeared before the media later on Thursday, Hamilton praised the Haas driver for his resilience and positive personality.

“I’m not going to say what I said because it’s private, and I didn’t text him,” he said.

“I didn’t know about the text situation, but I thought it would be better when I get to see him in person.

“I think he’s one of the nicest guys here. He’s always been so. He’s a charming young lad.

“I don’t know how his environment is or what his challenges have been; I can guess that it probably hasn’t been easy over the years.

“But I think he remains positive. It’s sad to see him leave because I think he’s a very, very talented driver, and I think he deserves to be here.

“But, when one door closes, it opens up new opportunities for something new and better. So I know whatever else he’s going to do, he can do it great because if he continues to carry that stuff the way he does in a positive way, that’s fine.”

With the end of his F1 career, for now, in sight, Ocon said he doesn’t look back on his seasons in the sport with any regret or a feeling that he could have done any differently.

“There are always little things that you can do differently, but not really,” he said.

“I think what I’m happy with is how I’ve maximised the performance of the car, whatever that performance of the car was. Not going to say I did it every single race.

“That would be a lie, but I’ve done it quite a few times, and actually probably more than you know.

“Sometimes in 2023 or ’22, which were very good years for me. So there are always things you can do better, but I don’t think there was a huge thing that I necessarily needed to change.”

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