Esteban Ocon on track this week with Haas

The Haas team will be on track this week for two days of private testing organized in Spain, on the Jerez de la Frontera circuit. The opportunity for its two regular drivers to perfect their integration and preparation, while the American team opens a new page in its young history in 2025.

This rolling is a direct realization of the major technical partnership signed last October with Toyota. Among the many ins and outs was in fact the logistical capacity to organize a TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) program, authorized by the Formula 1 regulations and intended to run cars more than two years old.

More supervised from 2025, these tests are now limited to 20 days without mileage to be respected for drivers without Grand Prix experience, while for regular drivers, a ceiling of 1000 km over four days has been established.

Until now, Haas has never used TPC testing, which can be beneficial for working on system procedures, on driver-engineer relationships, or even for preparing young drivers. In Andalusia, the team will put the Haas VF-23 for the 2023 season on track.

Oliver Bearman will be at the wheel on the morning of Wednesday January 15, before giving way to Japanese driver Ritomo Miyata, chosen by Toyota and aged 25. On Thursday January 16 in the morning, it will be Esteban Ocon's turn to drive the VF-23, before letting the Toyota protégé conclude the program in the afternoon.

After leaving Alpine after five full seasons, punctuated by a victory in 2021, Esteban Ocon chose to take on a new challenge with Haas under the leadership of Ayao Komatsu. The Frenchman was already able to start working with his new team last month, during end-of-season testing in Abu Dhabi, even though he did not take part in the last Grand Prix of the season with his former team.

He will therefore discover the VF-23 after having already piloted the VF-24, and before finally being able to slip into the seat of the VF-25, the presentation date of which is not known at the moment.