"It's not only me: it's Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly, myself" - Esteban Ocon on the endemic issue with Alpine

Esteban Ocon has opened up on the endemic issue at Alpine, where not only him but Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, and Pierre Gasly also suffered from the fact that the feedback from drivers was not taken into account. Ocon has been part of the Enstone-based squad for a long time. He joined the team in 2020 as a replacement for Nico Hulkenberg.

He raced alongside Daniel Ricciardo in 2020 before the Australian left for McLaren. Ricciardo was replaced by Fernando Alonso, who raced for the team in 2021 and 2022 before leaving for Aston Martin. The last two years have seen Esteban Ocon team up with Pierre Gasly as the former Mercedes junior gets ready to move on to Haas.

The move to Haas comes after Esteban Ocon spent 5 years at Alpine and had decent success. When questioned if he had any regrets as he left the French team, Ocon was defiant, saying he gave everything he could. The driver also pointed out how not only he but every other driver had issues with the fact that their feedback did not lead to tangible changes. He told Motorsport.com:

"No, because I gave everything I had to this team. Regrets to a point where, you know, it's not only me: it's Daniel [Ricciardo], Fernando [Alonso], Pierre [Gasly], myself. All the drivers that have come through this team, we gave feedback to the team."

He added:

"Normally there is a circle where, from the drivers to the team, you give some information. Then you have technical [feedback] on either 'yes, you guys are right, we need to be addressing that' or 'no, we can't, because of this or that'. There hasn't been any of that.

"The following year, you find out that some of the issues that you talked about haven't been fixed and have been going the other way. I try to guide this team to the best I can, [but] we haven't always been listened to. And this is why some of the issues still remain after five years in this team."

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Esteban Ocon shrugs off the 'team leader' tag for 2024

Esteban Ocon would now be moving to Haas, a team that has shown signs of improvement this season. The driver will team up with Ollie Bearman, a young British prospect who has been rated very highly by a lot of pundits. When questioned if he would assume the role of a team leader, Ocon said that his focus was going to be on aligning with the team in a manner that helped the project grow. He said (via motorsport.com):

"I don't know if 'the team leader' is the right thing to say, but I will put commitment, efforts, dedication to not miss any single detail and to share everything that I believe is important to improve – but quickly."

He added:

"You need not to wait a year for things to come in because things take time to develop, things take time to be created. And if you miss something for the first six months, well, it can be a year and six months until it comes to you."

Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman are going to form an interesting alliance. The French driver hasn't had the best of relations with a few of his teammates, so he would be hoping to start things better with the rookie next season.