Sepang Is So Back! (2026 Bahrain Grand Prix In Malaysia Predictions)

Number one, for like the third time in the last three weeks, we have had the official confirmation that Esteban Ocon will not be driving for Haas next year.

I don't know, like last week going into Baku, we had Esteban Ocon basically confirming to the media that he's going to be a free agent next year, which tells us that he's not going to be driving for Haas next year.

This week, Haas comes out and says, we have confirmed that we'll be parting ways with Esteban Ocon to the surprise of literally no one.

So it's like, we know this.

We know that Esteban Alcon is probably not going to be on the grid next year because there's no room for him whatsoever because the only team that is going to be having an open seat is going to be the team that he is vacating.

So yes, Esteban Alcon is still leaving Haas next year.

And it looks like he won't be done racing.

Obviously, many drivers who leave F1, they continue racing in other series.

And I think the rumblings that I have heard so far include a gig in endurance racing, which is where Mick Schumacher, after he left his time at Haas, he ended up A, an Alpine Reserve driver, one of the 400, and then B, with the Alpine WEC team.

So that's...

It's kind of...

That's just kind of where former F1 drivers end up going.

And then, of course, a bunch of them end up in IndyCar.

So we'll see where he ends up.

But this is not the last we have seen of Esteban Ocon in racing in general in motorsport, but probably the last we're going to be seeing of him in F1.

And we will do a whole retrospective about his career in December after the end of the season.

And so moving on to other contract updates that we're also really not surprised by Aston Martin has confirmed that both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso will be staying as the driver pairing for 2027.

Are we surprised? No, it's, Like, there's a...

Okay, we know Aston Martin is really, really bad this year.

We know this.

It has been, like, the horse has been beaten.

We are aware of how bad Aston Martin is this year.

So does anybody really want to drive for Aston Martin? I mean, you have to kind of balance that with, I want to be on the F1 grid and...

It's a car that drives in Formula One, but also there's really no point in changing up either driver, even though like how much longer is Lance Stroll going to get to be able to perform? He is currently one of the three drivers who does not have a point scored yet this season.

The other two are Cadillac drivers who are not expected to score points this season.