This season will likely be MoneyGram Haas F1 Group’s tenth within the FIA Method 1 World Championship, and it enters 2025 with a brand new driver line-up. Esteban Ocon (28) and Oliver Bearman (19) will race for MoneyGram Haas F1 Group this season, mixing race-winning expertise with youth.
Ocon has contested 156 grands prix, scoring 445 factors, and has one profession victory to his identify, achieved on the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. Ocon has scored an additional three Method 1 podiums, most lately on the 2024 So Paulo Grand Prix. Ferrari Driver Academy member Bearman is getting into his first full season in Method 1, having contested three grands prix as a stand-in driver in 2024, scoring seventh on his debut in Saudi Arabia with Scuderia Ferrari, previous to races with MoneyGram Haas F1 Group in Azerbaijan and Sao Paulo.
Ocon and Bearman mixed throughout pre-season testing to finish 2473.28 kilometers (1536.89 miles) within the VF-25 on the Bahrain Worldwide Circuit, accruing helpful knowledge and understanding of the brand new package deal, with consideration now turning to the primary spherical of the marketing campaign.
Australia will open Method 1’s season for a twenty third time, and for the primary time since 2019, marking the beginning of a record-equaling 24-event schedule – the identical quantity, and roster of occasions, as in 2024. MoneyGram Haas F1 Group will once more contest three grands prix on dwelling soil in america, in Miami (Might 4), Austin (October 19) and Las Vegas (November 22), whereas there’ll as soon as extra be six F1 Dash occasions, at which a short-distance race is held on Saturdays.
The Albert Park Avenue Circuit, which first featured on Method 1’s calendar in 1996, takes drivers by way of the leafy parkland a brief distance from downtown Melbourne. Its short-term nature means the circuit has excessive monitor evolution, whereas there’s an abundance of high-speed curves, with a number of turns having been reprofiled in 2022 to create quicker cornering speeds. Gravel traps and limitations lurk near the circuit edge, with the specter of a Security Automotive interval – or race suspension – by no means too far-off.
Ocon has contested 5 grands prix in Australia, taking a finest results of seventh place in 2022, whereas Bearman has prior expertise of Albert Park from FIA Method 2, in 2023 and 2024. MoneyGram Haas F1 Group made its world championship debut at Albert Park in 2016, ending its maiden grand prix in sixth place.
Ayao Komatsu, Group Principal: “I am actually wanting ahead to being again in Melbourne. Traditionally, we have had some good reminiscences from there – okay some unhealthy ones too – however when it comes to efficiency, and Melbourne being the very first race for the staff and getting that P6, it is a improbable reminiscence. It is a very difficult monitor as basically it is a road monitor with low-grip, and tough overtaking. It is a difficult circuit for the motive force, the automotive and the staff. From issues we noticed at testing, there’s so much to be constructive about and I am wanting ahead to seeing what we are able to do in Melbourne. If we put the whole lot collectively, which we have to do, and get one of the best out of the automotive and the motive force, we could be preventing.”
Ollie Bearman: “It is actually been a protracted low season so I am pleased to lastly get to Melbourne and get began with the season, I can not wait to see what it holds. The circuit is nice, it goes round a lake which is fairly distinctive and spectacular, and it has lovely surroundings with the backdrop of town shut by. The monitor is exclusive, it has lots of crowns within the highway, so for us drivers it makes our lives a bit tougher and it is actually the one monitor the place we face this kind of problem. I am most wanting ahead to sharing my theoretical debut with my household and family members. I skilled the Melbourne stroll final yr in Method 2 and it was improbable to see the assist of the group and I believe having that in F1 will likely be much more spectacular and I can not wait to satisfy them and hopefully placed on a superb efficiency for them.”
Esteban Ocon: “It is good to see Australia again as the primary race on the calendar. It was all the time the season-opener after I was watching Method 1, so we’re again and with Haas for the primary time, it is going to be particular. There’s all the time lots of assist for us, particularly on the Melbourne Stroll as we head into the paddock, it is loopy to see the passion of everybody and the way Melbourne turns into an F1 metropolis throughout race week. Albert Park is an unbelievable monitor, one which’s develop into quicker all through the years with the brand new structure and tarmac. It is a huge problem for groups and drivers to construct the automotive proper, realizing how briskly the corners are. Getting used to the time zone as nicely, we’ve our routine for that coming into the week and I am wanting ahead to seeing how the VF-25 will carry out for the primary time, it is thrilling.”
