Now teammates at Haas, Ocon said he was pleased to see Doohan remain in the paddock as the team’s reserve driver for the 2026 season.
Doohan joined Haas at the beginning of the year after losing his Alpine race seat just six rounds into the 2025 campaign. He had started seven grands prix in total, debuting at the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi in place of Ocon.
The pair formed a friendship during their time together at Alpine while Doohan served as the squad’s reserve driver, and the Frenchman said he was glad to see the Australian back in a positive environment.
“It’s great to see him. He’s a good friend of mine, Jack, and I’m happy to see him in the paddock,” Ocon told Speedcafe.
“[I’m] happy to see him in a healthy environment as well in this team, and yeah, helping us to hopefully take the next step as well. That’s great to have him around.
“He’s a great character and hopefully he’s going to help us to develop the car further.”
Asked whether he believed Doohan deserved a full-time seat in F1, Ocon suggested the 23-year-old had not been given a fair opportunity.
“I think he didn’t have enough of a chance. No,” he said.
“When you are going into the season, for sure you can’t have three or four races to just prove yourself. That’s not fair. He needed of course more than that.”
Doohan reveals Alpine decided ‘brutal’ F1 fate before home race
Ocon enters 2026 beginning his 10th year in F1, having made his debut in at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix.
He has since taken one victory and multiple podiums across spells with Manor, Force India, Racing Point, Renault, and Alpine before moving to Haas.
Reflecting on the milestone, the Frenchman admitted the passage of time had caught him by surprise.
“Yeah it’s pretty crazy! Time flies really. I don’t feel like I’ve been here for 10 years! It feels like a lot less,” he said.
“But, yeah, that’s the reality of things. I’ve been driving for a while now. A lot of races for sure. I’m excited for what the future holds.
“Because, obviously, I’ve [got] a win. A few podiums. But what I want is much more than that.”
Ocon said his ambition remains to fight consistently at the front, something he achieved regularly during his junior career before reaching F1.
“I don’t think I’ve achieved very much in F1 in comparison to what I’m dreaming of,” he explained.
“I’ve won consistently in every category before I came to Formula 1. Apart from DTM, which was only half a year. And my aim is to do the same in F1.
“So of course that’s not going to happen this year realistically. But I’m working hard for that to happen one day.”
Outside of his win at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix and his other F1 podiums, he said the races he considered standout performances were the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix and the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah, where he briefly led despite driving a car he felt was capable of finishing only eighth.
After Haas showed encouraging pace in pre-season testing and scored points in the hands of Oliver Bearman in Australia, with Ocon sitting just outside the points in 11th, the Frenchman said the goal for 2026 was to consistently extract the maximum from the package and score points whenever possible.
“A successful year would be scoring points consistently every race. That would be great,” Ocon said.
“Getting the maximum out of the car every single time. That would be also fantastic and what I would like to be doing.
“Last year was quite difficult for many different reasons. And I hope that this year will go a lot smoother.”
2026 F1 Chinese Grand Prix – Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more
