Esteban Ocon exploring potential F1 lifeline at rival team after Haas axe

Esteban Ocon and his team are exploring the possibility of him securing a race seat at Cadillac in 2027, but to have a chance, a major change needs to be made. 

The French driver leaves Haas at the end of this season after two years, but there are few landing spots for a 2027 race seat available. 

Only Racing Bulls and Mercedes have yet to officially confirm their 2027 line-ups, along with the Haas team Ocon is leaving.

But Racing Bulls is facing its own 'three-into-two doesn't go' dilemma over Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad, and Nikola Tsolov, whilst Kimi Antonelli and George Russell will remain at Mercedes.

One potential possibility for Ocon is Cadillac, where he enjoys good relations with new team principal Marcin Budkowski, from their time working at Alpine together between 2021 and 2022.

Sergio Perez is understood by RacingNews365 to be a key pillar of the Cadillac project.

Perez has performed at a very high level in his comeback year, especially in comparison to his team-mate Valtteri Bottas, seemingly putting the Finnish driver’s seat at risk.

Paddock sources have suggested that it can be considered a sign of Bottas' situation that his manager, Didier Coton, is on-site in Austin for the United States Grand Prix this weekend - a home race for the team where all the key decision-makers are in attendance.

RacingNews365 understands, however, that the team's immediate position is to focus on this season and decide about a potential change late on if needed.

Ocon and his management team are understood to have reached out to Cadillac to discuss the possibility of the one-time grand prix winner taking the seat.

But it is understood that the team is very cautious at this stage, particularly after already making a significant change this year when Graeme Lowdon was axed as team principal in the summer break in favour of Budkowski (below).

[Article continues below with Budkowski's response on the future of his driver line-up]

Cadillac address future of F1 driver line-up

The future of Cadillac's driver line-up was put to Budkowski in the Friday team principal's press conference in Austin, where he did not completely rule out the possibility of a driver change. 

Asked specifically about links to Ocon, Budkowski told media, including RacingNews365, that: "As a team principal, and I’m sure it’s the same with my colleagues, you’re getting calls and contacts from every driver or driver manager that is on the market. 

"So, there are a number of drivers and managers who have contacted me. I’m not going to say who it is or who it isn’t, but pretty much all of them that are on the market have been in touch, as you’d expect. 

"But I think it’s the last place [here in the press conference], as you can imagine, where I would communicate anything on the driver line-up. My marketing and communications department would kill me if I did that."

When then directly questioned on whether Bottas and Perez have contracts for 2027, Budkowski did not directly answer the question.

"Again, this is the last place I would comment on driver contracts, and in general, I think it’s not something that is done in the press," he said.

"It’s something which will be done by official releases from the team when the time is right."

Next weekend's Mexican Grand Prix is Perez’s home race and his 300th grand prix in Formula 1, seemingly providing the ideal opportunity for the team to confirm his seat for next season.  

While Bottas’ place is in question, several paddock sources are saying that Cadillac’s American owners are still considering Colton Herta as a potential option.

At the same time, RacingNews365 understands that, as well as Ocon, other drivers are also trying to explore a potential opportunity at Cadillac. One of them is Yuki Tsunoda.

On Friday, paddock sources suggested that Liam Lawson's team is also in touch. The New Zealand driver is still not confirmed at Racing Bulls as the team deliberates on whether to promote Tsolov. It is understood these talks are nothing more than exploratory at this stage.

Should Ocon not be on the grid for 2027, another potential destination would be the third and reserve driver role at Aston Martin, with Ocon keen to resume his grand prix career in 2028.