The Formula 1 edit

Article by Finley Ever

Esteban Ocon, the Haas driver more widely known as Estie Bestie, had an upbringing different from other F1 drivers. Where other families in the sport had money and means, Esteban had a dedicated family and humble support.

The early days

The first time Esteban got into a kart was when he was four years old. He loved it so much he refused to get out of it. This sparked his father to buy him his first real kart.

The Ocon family wasn’t as wealthy as other junior karting families, with his dad being a mechanic, but they made it work. Esteban won two karting championships back-to-back when he was 9-12 years old. Around the same time, Esteban’s parents realized that the karting world was not built for the income they were making. Intent on seeing Esteban’s racing career through, his father sold their house and his workspace, then used the money made from that to buy a caravan. Esteban, his family, and their dog lived out of the caravan for three years travelling to races across Europe, even winning a F3 title against Max Verstappen during that time.

His family would often park the caravan in front of Esteban’s school late on Sunday nights after a race, so Esteban would just have to get up in the morning and walk into the building. Many people made fun of him for the caravan and his dream, telling him that he would never make it because racing is a rich kid’s sport. Esteban persisted in his talent though.

The help

Once it was finally time for Esteban to go into KF3 racing, he completely ran out of funding. Thankfully, when he was around 13 years old, his talent intrigued someone very important, Eric Boullier, who worked for a management company backed by Renault F1. Esteban got signed to Eric’s management team, which completely saved his dreams of racing. But unfortunately, Eric didn’t stay with the management team forever, and when he left, Esteban was lost with nowhere to go and no funding. That’s when Merecedes team principal Toto Wolff came into play.

Having noticed Esteban’s talent early on, Toto signed the Frenchman to the Mercedes junior program. Taking him through the GP3 series, and then eventually using the power of Merecedes to get Esteban into a F1 seat with Manor racing in 2016.

The next year, Esteban made the move to Force India. There, he consistently scored many points for the team. After another year, Esteban went back to Mercedes as their reserve driver this time in 2019. He held onto that position for a year but then received his own F1 seat again with Renault (now Alpine) for the 2020 racing season.

He stayed with Alpine for many years, even scoring his first Grand Prix victory with them at the Hungarian GP in 2021. He signed with Haas ahead of the 2025 season along with rookie Oliver Bearman.

Esteban is a wonderful example that no matter your background, money situation, or how many people doubt you, if you have a dream and a drive to achieve it, anything is possible!