Esteban Ocon will race for Haas in Formula One from 2025 after signing a multi-year deal with the American team.

Haas announced on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix that Ocon, 27, would complete its line-up for next year alongside British rookie Oliver Bearman, who will graduate from Formula Two.

The Frenchman will become the first grand prix winner to race for Haas, and the move sees him reunite with Ayao Komatsu, Haas’s team principal, who served as his engineer for his maiden F1 test with Lotus back in 2014.

Ocon said in a statement that he and Haas had enjoyed “honest and fruitful discussions these last few months” about the future, and that he would be “joining a very ambitious racing team, whose spirit, work ethic, and undeniable upward trajectory has really impressed me.”

The move means Haas will run an all-new F1 line-up for 2025 as Ocon and Bearman replace Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, both of whom were already confirmed to be leaving the team.

“The experience he brings, not just from his own talent base but also from working for a manufacturer team, will be advantageous to us in our growth as an organization,” Komatsu said of Ocon.

“It was vital we had a driver with experience in beside Oliver Bearman next year, but Esteban’s only 27 — he’s still young with a lot to prove as well. I think we have a hungry, dynamic driver pairing.”

What led Ocon to Haas?

Since Ocon announced in June that he would be leaving Alpine upon the expiration of his contract at the end of the season, Haas has always looked like his most likely destination.

Ocon was always going to be part of what is proving to be a very fluid F1 driver market for 2025, offering race-winning experience to any interested teams after his shock victory for Alpine at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.

There were talks with a number of teams over a potential drive for next year, with Williams previously holding an interest in him as an alternative to its top target — Carlos Sainz.

Ocon is currently racing with Alpine (Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

But it became clear in recent weeks that a deal with Haas was close to being finalized, particularly after the team confirmed Magnussen’s departure in Hungary.

Ocon said last week it was “very clear what our intentions are for the future,” with the hope of getting a deal announced before the summer break, which starts next week.

He will join a Haas team currently enjoying an upswing in performance under Komatsu. It lies seventh in the constructors standings, and has already scored more than double its points tally from the entirety of last year.

A fresh start for Ocon

The move will serve as a new beginning to Ocon, whose final season with Alpine has proven to be a frustrating one.

Between the team’s lack of performance and tension with teammate Pierre Gasly that flared after their collision on the opening lap in Monaco, there was always the feeling a chapter was ending, even prior to news of Ocon’s departure.

This move will end Ocon’s long-standing relationship with the Enstone-based team, known previously as Renault and Lotus, which began more than 10 years ago. He joined their junior academy at 14, but their financial issues led Mercedes to take him under its wing.

Mercedes helped Ocon get onto the F1 grid in 2016 and quickly win praise for his performances and consistency while driving for Force India, leading to him even being a consideration for a Mercedes F1 seat in 2020 as teammate to Lewis Hamilton.

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But he was never seriously on Mercedes’ radar this time around as they look to replace Hamilton, with the vacant seat likely to go to its 17-year-old protege, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who is racing in F2.

With Haas, Ocon will get long-term stability and, for the first time in his career, have the chance to help build a team up by serving as the experienced head alongside a much younger teammate in Bearman.

(Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Real Madrid’s long-awaited signing of Kylian Mbappe has plenty of upside for the reigning Spanish and European champions — but there are some question marks.

One of them is how Mbappe fits into the starting line-up, given his preferred position is on the left wing, which is where Vinicius Junior, last season’s 24-goal top scorer, plays. The other is how the 25-year-old Frenchman will gel with an established dressing room — an aspect the La Liga club looked at in January when they again started to seriously consider signing him.

The Athletic has previously detailed how head coach Carlo Ancelotti plans to use a flexible 4-3-3 system, with Mbappe playing through the middle, Vinicius Jr on the left and Rodrygo on the right. This will become a 4-4-2 in defence, with Mbappe and Vinicius Jr as the front two and Jude Bellingham moving to left midfield.

That leaves the personality question. Madrid did not want Mbappe to enjoy the degree of power he had at previous club Paris Saint-Germain after renewing his contract there in 2022. They also feared giving him an excessively high salary could raise suspicions among a harmonious group of players. Reports have suggested Mbappe will be paid a signing bonus in the region of €100million ($109m; £84m) then a €15m salary.

This current set of Madrid players is considered one of the most tightly knit of recent years. Sources close to the dressing room — who, like all those cited in this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — have said the atmosphere is the best they have ever known and recognised they had not felt the same way in previous years.

That was something referred to by the recently retired Toni Kroos when he was asked at an event last week if he would stay in contact with any of his former Madrid team-mates.

“Yes, I have a personal relationship with many of them,” the German midfielder said. “Last season was not only very successful but we also had a top dressing room — I can’t say the same for every team I played for. They are people I want to keep in touch with.”

Mbappe was presented to much fanfare last week (Alvaro Medranda/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

There have been signs of that during the players’ summer holidays.

As in 2023, Vinicius Jr invited a selection of his club team-mates to home city Rio de Janeiro after Brazil’s Copa America quarter-finals exit against Uruguay this month. Many could not go because of family commitments or scheduling issues around international tournaments, but Eduardo Camavinga, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao and Rodrygo went.

The players attended a charity event for the winger’s foundation, the Instituto Vini Jr — into which he has invested €1.3million over the last year to help more than 3,500 children — and enjoyed a few days of rest, parties and playing football against each other. They were joined by people from their entourages and other high-profile figures from the world of sport and elsewhere, such as the Boston Celtics NBA star Jaylen Brown and singers Ozuna, Rauw Alejandro and Ludmilla.

Mbappe was among those invited along with Vinicius Jr’s countryman, friend and now-Madrid team-mate Endrick. But both were due to be officially unveiled at the club’s Santiago Bernabeu home stadium after their respective involvements in the European Championship and the Copa America — Mbappe was unveiled last Tuesday; Endrick will be this Saturday — and needed to deal with the logistics of their new life in Spain.

At his opening press conference, Mbappe confirmed that Vinicius Jr had played a role in him finally joining Madrid. He was asked which players had spoken to him about the club before his arrival from PSG.

“I had all the French players, who always told me and explained to me that it is the best (club) in the world,” Mbappe said. “Also Vinicius, who asked me to come, and told me that we would play together in attack. Thank you to them, because it’s always a good thing that they want me to play with them.”

Mbappe with now-Madrid team-mates Camavinga and Tchouameni in France training (Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

Several players showed public support — whether implicit or explicit — for Mbappe’s signing before it was made official.

When rumours linked Madrid with the move last year, Rodrygo posted a photo of himself partying with Mbappe in the August. And, once the deal was announced, there was a big reaction on social media from the whole squad.

Sources at Valdebebas, Madrid’s training ground, said Mbappe has made a good impression, describing him as “intelligent” and “cheerful”. The club offered him lower terms this time than those in their failed 2022 proposal, although his base salary is among the highest in the squad (and with his signing bonus included he is by far their best-paid player).

Mbappe made the right noises in his first press conference, saying he would play where Ancelotti asked him to and adding that he was not thinking about taking the No 10 shirt worn by Luka Modric for the past seven seasons, out of respect for the long-serving Croatian midfielder (he’ll wear the No 9).

So there are good signs — and it is worth considering what happened when Bellingham, another big personality, joined Madrid last year.

Initial reports suggested Bellingham and Vinicius Jr did not get on, but that was soon proven wrong. They sometimes took the same car to training and Vinicius Jr celebrated some of his goals by recreating the Englishman’s ‘open arms’ celebration. When Bellingham was interviewed by the club’s official TV channel during Madrid’s La Liga title celebrations in May, he said, “I’m here, with the best player in the world” as he embraced Vinicius Jr.

The Brazilian called Bellingham ‘Belligol’ in that interview, one of several nicknames that is within the squad.

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is 6ft 7in (200cm) so is known as ‘Jirafa’ (Giraffe), Antonio Rudiger is ‘Loco’ (Crazy), David Alaba is ‘Alabama’, Ferland Mendy is ‘General’, Eduardo Camavinga is ‘Pantera’ (Panther), Federico Valverde is ‘Halcon’ (Hawk), ‘Gaucho’ (the cowboy-like horsemen who are a folk symbol in his native Uruguay) or ‘Bombazo’ (Bombshell — because of the power of his shots), while Arda Guler is ‘Abi’ (‘older brother’ in the language of his Turkish homeland). Players use these nicknames regularly on social media, evidence of the positive atmosphere in the dressing room.

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That was helped last term by the mix of youngsters and veterans such as Nacho, Kroos and Joselu — all of whom have left the club this summer. But other experienced players such as the 38-year-old Modric and Lucas Vazquez, 33, remain after they extended their deals for a further year.

Club staff have played an important role in forging that harmony.

Last summer, the influential chief scout Juni Calafat took new arrivals Bellingham and Guler and Brahim Diaz (who was returning from a three-year loan at AC Milan) for dinner at a well-known restaurant in the centre of Madrid. Guler then hosted a barbecue at his home after the crucial La Liga win against Barcelona in April, attended by Brahim, Valverde and staff members.

The players have a great connection with Ancelotti and the other coaches. Carlo’s son and assistant Davide is the key given that, at 35, he is closer in age to the players and speaks several languages.

Carlo and Davide Ancelotti have a good relationship with the players (Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)

They also enjoy a good relationship with doctors, physiotherapists and trainers. That was clear when physiotherapist Jaime Salom insisted on being at the Bernabeu for Militao’s comeback from a serious knee injury against Athletic Bilbao in March, despite the death of his mother that week. Rodrygo dedicated a goal in that game to Salom.

“These kinds of details are usually given privately and often you can’t see them, but they are very important,” a Valdebebas source said at the time.

It all paints a picture of a united dressing room, ready to welcome another star player in Mbappe.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

Former Harvard women’s ice hockey coach Katey Stone sued the university for sex discrimination on Tuesday, alleging Harvard forced her to resign after reports of misconduct she said were false and that the university undervalues and underpays female coaches.

Stone, who retired in June 2023, announced the lawsuit in a news conference Tuesday afternoon alongside her legal team and former Harvard hockey players.

Stone coached at Harvard for 27 seasons but left her post amid an investigation into allegations of mistreatment of players, including insensitivity to mental health issues, downplaying injuries, leading derogatory chants directed at players and creating a climate where players were pitted against each other to curry favor with her. Multiple articles, including a March 2023 report in The Athletic, also reported hazing within her program. The Athletic detailed hazing and initiation rituals that involved forced alcohol consumption and sexualized skits and traditions, including an annual event that dates back decades called “naked skate.”

The lawsuit alleges that Harvard forced Stone out because of these misconduct allegations, which she called false, and described the school’s actions as “part and parcel of a larger culture at the University wherein female coaches are undervalued, underpaid, heavily scrutinized, and held to a breathtakingly more stringent standard of behavior than their male counterparts.”

“These days, when coaches, more specifically female coaches, challenge athletes to bring out their best, they are taking a significant risk,” Stone said in prepared remarks on Tuesday. “The mental health crisis for young adults is real. Coaches are always searching to find the balance between pushing too hard versus affirming mediocrity, while cultural norms make it more difficult to set a high bar.”

Stone said that “female coaches are viewed by too many athletes, parents and administrators as being harmful, even emotionally abusive. The coaching profession is losing excellent coaches at an alarming rate as the scrutiny grows more intense and biased compared to our male counterparts.”

When reached for comment, a Harvard spokesperson said the school does not comment on active litigation.

Neither Stone nor her attorney, Andrew T. Miltenberg of Nesenoff & Miltenberg LLP, directly addressed specific allegations against Stone included in The Athletic’s story, save for a racially insensitive phrase she used in the locker room in March 2022, when she said “there are too many chiefs … not enough indians.” Miltenberg characterized it as a “common phrase” that “many of us have used.”

Miltenberg said the incident “became the catalyst, the pretext, for Harvard to start its campaign to undermine and ultimately force the resignation of Katey Stone.” He said it was a campaign “that started when Coach Stone raised the fact that she was undervalued and underpaid.”

The lawsuit states that in or around 2017, Stone and other female coaches at Harvard “began to fiercely advocate for pay transparency and parity between male and female coaches at Harvard.”

Harvard hired a law firm to conduct an external review of Stone’s program following The Athletic’s March 2023 report, which detailed allegations of hazing, initiation rituals, body shaming and an environment described by one person connected to the program as “a mental health hunger games.”

The Athletic reported that in some years of the “naked skate,” freshmen were told to do a “Superman” slide on the ice that left some with ice burns and bleeding nipples. The “naked skate” occurred as recently as January 2023, the day following the publication of a story in The Boston Globe, which first reported allegations of Stone’s misconduct toward players. After one player became upset about the event, Stone and her staff met with the team and told them it was an unsanctioned activity.

According to an internal email from athletic director Erin McDermott obtained by The Athletic, the findings of the external review by law firm Jenner & Block made clear “that some traditions in recent years were experienced differently by different people and not all were comfortable with those activities or with expressing concerns relating to the program.”

At the time of her resignation, Stone said that “a coach knows in their heart when it is time for change” and said she looked forward to “supporting the next chapter in Harvard women’s hockey.” The news release announcing her departure did not mention the allegations against Stone or the external review. Following the review, the school announced that Harvard athletics would end team traditions “that are harmful to team culture” and undertake initiatives to address player safety and well-being.

Stone, in her lawsuit, said that she was not aware about inappropriate behavior such as the “naked skates” and that she stressed to players that any sort of hazing activity was prohibited. She also said that she “fostered an environment of respect and dignity” and that while Harvard “permits, if not openly encourages, male coaches to use their discretion in how to best coach and motivate the players on their respective teams, Coach Stone was harshly punished and excoriated for engaging in the same coaching strategies and behaviors.”

On Tuesday, Stone said that her priority has always been the well-being of her players and that she was instructed by Harvard to remain silent as she was embroiled in investigations and facing allegations from former players.

“As a result, incredible damage was done to my career, to my team, to my personal and professional reputation and to my life. Today with the filing of this lawsuit, my voice will at last be heard,” she said.

She did not take questions from reporters in attendance, citing the ongoing litigation.

Three former Harvard players — Kalley Armstrong, Nicole Corriero and Jamie Hagerman Phinney — spoke in defense of Stone, saying that she played a pivotal role in their personal and professional development and created a culture of high achievement and excellence within her program.

In the lawsuit, Stone also named 50 Jane Doe defendants, who she is suing for defamation. Stone alleged those parties made false statements to The Boston Globe and Harvard that resulted in reputational damage. She is also suing those unnamed defendants for conspiracy, saying that they falsely stated that she “engaged in hazing or fostered a culture of hazing.”

Stone characterized those who have spoken out against her as a “small number” of people who “have not felt supported.”

Miltenberg suggested that her rigorous coaching standard was the basis of players’ discontent:

“Some people who have been coddled all their life don’t like that.”

(Photo: Barry Chin / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)