Oliver Bearman<\/a>.<\/p>\nHaas offered no reason for Ocon\u2019s withdrawal, although it subsequently confirmed his absence was not due to illness.<\/p>\n
In a brief statement announcing the replacement, the team said no further comments would be made.<\/p>\n
Team principal Ayao Komatsu also provided little clarity when questioned on Sky Sports F1 during FP3.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t tell you much, but at least I can tell you that he\u2019s not in. That\u2019s as much I can tell you,\u201d Komatsu said.<\/p>\n
Ocon finished 13th in FP2 on Friday, ahead of Bearman, after Hirakawa had driven his car in the opening session.<\/p>\n
However, the Frenchman expressed frustration over team radio when race engineer Laura Mueller told him to use medium tyres rather than the soft compound he had expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, no, I wanted the soft, like, don\u2019t do that to me. Come on,\u201d Ocon responded.<\/p>\n
There is no confirmation that the exchange played any part in Haas\u2019s decision, with the circumstances surrounding his withdrawal remaining unclear.<\/p>\n
When asked about Ocon\u2019s frustration with Friday\u2019s run plan, Komatsu again declined to elaborate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t go into any details,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The switch hands Hirakawa his Formula 1 race debut at the age of 32, having previously participated in several practice sessions for Haas, Alpine and McLaren.<\/p>\n
![\"Ryo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/XPB_1449284_HiRes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Ryo Hirakawa will make his F1 debut as Esteban Ocon\u2019s replacement in Mexico City. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
He will become the oldest driver to make his F1 debut since Andre Lotterer, who was also 32 when he raced for Caterham at the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
The Toyota endurance racer, a Le Mans winner and multiple World Endurance Championship title winner, finished 15th in FP1 on Friday in his third Haas practice appearance of the season.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear whether Ocon will return for next weekend\u2019s Brazilian Grand Prix, with Hirakawa unavailable due to his World Endurance Championship commitments.<\/p>\n
That could open the door for fellow Haas reserve driver Jack Doohan to return to an F1 race seat, while Ferrari junior Rafael Camara could also be an option, having already been confirmed as Ocon\u2019s replacement at the team for 2027.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian, who currently leads the Formula 2 championship, is also scheduled to take part in FP1 for Ferrari at his home race.<\/p>\n
However, Komatsu refused to look beyond Mexico when asked whether Ocon\u2019s absence would extend into the next race weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing I can say is we\u2019re just focused on what\u2019s right in front of us and trying to get Ryo in the best shape for quali this afternoon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Asked specifically about Hirakawa\u2019s scheduling clash and the availability of other drivers, Komatsu indicated the team had yet to address the situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, again, honestly, I\u2019m not there yet. So really just focusing on this session right now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Should Doohan get the call-up for Brazil, it would not be the first time the Australian has replaced Ocon before the end of a Formula 1 season.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Alpine handed the Australian his race debut at the Abu Dhabi finale<\/a> after negotiating an early release that allowed Ocon to participate in the post-season test with Haas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Esteban Ocon has been replaced by Ryo Hirakawa for the Mexico City Grand Prix. Image: XPB Images The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,22304,5328,139444,806,805,803,804,142608,7499,85],"class_list":["post-948061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-esteban-ocon","tag-haas","tag-mexico-city-gp","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-ryo-hirakawa","tag-slot4","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=948061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Ocon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/XPB_1447657_HiRes_2.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEsteban Ocon has been replaced by Ryo Hirakawa for the Mexico City Grand Prix. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n