"Being a team player, being a nice guy, Too nice, I am": Esteban Ocon fumes at Alpine team orders for driver swap

Esteban Ocon was furious at the Alpine team order in the F1 Canadian GP as it cost the driver a P9 finish. After starting the race at the back of the grip on P18, through strategy and astute driving, Ocon made his way into points. After being P9 for a while, the French driver got the jump on RB driver Yuki Tsunoda as well for P8.

In the last stint of the race on medium tires, Esteban Ocon was in P8, followed by Daniel Ricciardo in P9, and Pierre Gasly in P10. With just a handful of laps left, Daniel was able to line up Ocon and pass him for P8, which meant that the French team had the opportunity to bring home a P9/P10 result from the F1 Canadian GP.

It was at this time that a huge surprise came from the Alpine pit wall, where Esteban Ocon was inextricably ordered to let teammate Pierre Gasly through so that he could go after Daniel Ricciardo. It didn't make much sense at the time because only a couple of laps were left and Daniel could not have been caught. After the team's insistence, Ocon let his teammate through.

On the last lap of the race, when Gasly didn't close down the gap to Daniel, Esteban Ocon was lining him up for a pass at the final chicane but was told by the team to hold the position. The French driver was justifiably furious because his result was taken away from him and given to his team.

As quoted by formu1a.uno, the driver was furious and, while talking to the media, stressed the word 'team player' multiple times in his statements. He said:

“Not the happiest, to be honest. Obviously, we started last and got into the points with both cars, which is amazing for the team. But I did my part of the job, being a team player – being a nice guy. Too nice, I am. We had to let Pierre go at the end, which I’ve done. I have always followed the instructions I was given."

He added,

“But for no reason, really. We were not going to catch Daniel – that was the reason for the call. And obviously, I’m losing a point there. Being too nice is not the right attitude to have in Formula 1. But I showed that I’m a team player, and that’s what matters.”

Esteban Ocon reveals running the older, heavier chassis

Earlier in the weekend, Esteban Ocon had revealed that he had been running the older, heavier chassis since the race in Miami. This also helped explain the drop in qualifying form that the French driver had suffered since then as Gasly would outqualify him twice.

Talking to Adam Cooper of Motorsport.com, he said,

"It's been a couple of events that my car is quite a lot heavier than Pierre's. We will rotate fairly in the year, that is very clear. But since Miami, that is the case. When all these things add up it makes it difficult, basically, to go through Q1."

Esteban Ocon is already leaving the team at the end of the season. One of the reasons behind it was the clash between him and Gasly in Monaco. It's hard to understand how this particular incident is going to unravel for the French driver.