Esteban Ocon is not worrying too much about his position at Alpine for remainder of F1 2024, as he hopes to announce something soon.
It wasn’t even one grand prix since the announcement of Ocon leaving Alpine, the in-team shenanigans started to play out. A team order situation towards the end of F1 Canadian GP in favour of Pierre Gasly irked his teammate into a radio outburst.
Ocon lost eighth to Daniel Ricciardo in the latter stages and in the bid to recover, Alpine asked Ocon to give Gasly a chance to try and get him. But it was too late in the swap which prevented any chance to pass. There was re-swap which further fueled the drama.
Alpine had promised Ocon but with no laps remaining, it was difficult then to swap back. The Frenchman insisted on being team player post the race, while acknowledging himself to being too nice in a sport where it is cut throat business.
With several races to go, it will be a tricky situation at Alpine to manage where they insist of parity. For Ocon, he knows what can happen but he states that he will do what he can to score points. “Like usual, I’m just trying to do the best I can with what I’ve got in hands,” he said to media. “That’s not going to change.
“I’ve got a very close team around me with my engineers, my mechanics – all these guys, they are pushing day in, day out for me to perform. I think they were proud of the race that we were doing in Canada. But it’s a different story at the end. I’ve had harder times, so I will push hard anyway,” summed up Ocon, who also clarified that the timing of the announcement to leave Alpine was a mutual decision.
“No, we announced together,” he said. “We took the decision together not to continue, as I’ve said in my statement. There’s nothing more to say.” While there are races to go through, Ocon is looking his F1 future as well, where he has been linked to seats at Mercedes, Haas and even Sauber/Audi for the 2025 season.
Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu has showed interest too. At the moment, Ocon is not hurrying but he hopes he has something to announce as soon. “I hope that I will be able to announce something very soon, when the time is right – that is the most important,” he said. “At the moment, it is not the right time. I keep focusing on what I have to do in the races.
“You never know in Formula 1 what the future can lie. But as I said, I’m excited for future challenges. You know, I got 15 more races to do and it’s important to do a good job and coming to the races, motivated as I’ve always been and enjoy what I do. For sure, my target is to be in Formula 1, that is very clear. That’s where I enjoy to be.”
Here’s Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly on team orders
Here’s Esteban Ocon reflects on leaving Alpine
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