Esteban Ocon adds $350,000-worth toy to his garage ahead of 2025 Haas F1 move

Haas F1 driver Esteban Ocon added a Ferrari 296 GTB to his garage ahead of the 2025 season. It had been a difficult 2024 campaign for the French driver as he finished behind his rival Pierre Gasly in the driver standings and was dropped from the Alpine team in favor of Jack Doohan.

However, he didn't have to toil hard to find his next drive at the pinnacle of motorsport as he got a seed with the American team on a multi-year contract. Ahead of his new journey with Haas, Ocon added a brand new Ferrari 296 GTB valued at $350k.

As per Car and Driver, the new beast from Maranello has the same engine configuration as the Ferrari F1 car with a V6 Turbo-Hybrid engine instead of fan favorites V8 or a V12, and can produce over 800 horsepower with its crank.

It is a two-seater, two-door, rear-wheel drive and will cost around $350k for its Cuope with the GTS version coming in at $379k. It is reported that the 296GTB can reach 0-60 in just 2.4 seconds and the interiors are covered with Italian leather.

After Esteban Ocon's much-debated departure from Alpine, the team's executive advisor Flavio Briatore made his thoughts known on the French driver's exit.

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Alpine F1 advisor sheds light on Esteban Ocon's exit from the team

Alpine F1 Executive Advisor Flavio Briatore said that he was thankful for Esteban Ocon's efforts in taking the French team to finish P6 in the Constructor's Championship in the 2024 season.

Speaking with Le Parisian, the controversial Italian claimed that the French driver's mind had moved onto his new team after finishing P2 in Brazil, saying (via PlanetF1):

“I have a different view of Esteban Ocon than the general public," Briatore said. "We really have to thank him for what he did in Brazil with that podium. But after that race, his head was in his new Haas team. And we were playing for 6th place in the constructors’ standings against them. I saw him completely demotivated in the last few races, with too big a gap to Pierre."

Dismissing any accusations of playing favorites, Briatore added that his priority was to find the best possible replacement for Ocon:

"At the same time, I wanted to try out what I had in the pipeline as a driver for the future. It’s not that I had a problem with Esteban or that I preferred Jack. I don’t look at nationality, whether he’s Turkish, French, Japanese… I just have to find out who the best driver is.”

Esteban Ocon's P2 finish in Interlagos played a huge role in his points tally of 23 points. Apart from the podium finish, he only managed to get five points to his name in the remaining 22 races and six Sprints to finish 19 points behind Pierre Gasly