Haas replaces Ocon with Hirakawa for Mexico City Grand Prix

Haas has replaced Esteban Ocon with reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa for the remainder of the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend, giving the Japanese driver his first Formula 1 race start. The team confirmed on Saturday that Hirakawa would join Oliver Bearman for final practice, qualifying and Sunday's 71-lap race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Watch the highlights:

Haas did not explain why it had changed its driver line-up and said it would make no further statement at this stage. BBC Sport reported that a team spokesperson had ruled out illness as the reason for Ocon's absence. The announcement covers the Mexican event; it does not set out any change to the line-up for subsequent races.

Hirakawa, 32, had already driven the VF-26 in Friday's opening practice session, finishing 15th. According to Haas's practice report, he completed 30 laps and recorded a best time of 1:19.982 on medium tyres. It was his third scheduled practice appearance of the season, following outings in Austria and Hungary, and included running on both hard and medium compounds.

Ocon returned to the car for second practice and finished 13th, one place ahead of Bearman. Haas listed his fastest lap as 1:18.774 and his total running at 32 laps. In the team's Friday recap, Ocon said he was not yet fully comfortable with the car and described further adjustments as necessary before Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions.

BBC Sport reported that Ocon had disagreed with race engineer Laura Mueller about tyre selection during Friday's second session. Mueller told him the team wanted medium tyres for his race-simulation run after Bearman's soft-tyre running had proved unsatisfactory; Ocon wanted to use softs. Haas declined to say whether the driver change was connected to that exchange, leaving the reason for the decision unconfirmed.

Hirakawa brings championship-winning endurance experience to his debut. Haas noted that he won the World Endurance Championship with Toyota in 2022 and 2023, as well as the 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours. Ocon, meanwhile, is due to leave Haas at the end of the year, BBC Sport reported.