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Esteban Ocon and Alpine have agreed to part ways at the end of the 2024 F1 season. The French driver will be leaving a team that he has been a part of since 2020 and has achieved a decent amount of success. The driver secured his first-ever podium with the team in 2020 in Bahrain.
In 2021, Ocon won his first F1 race in Hungary by fending off the race-long charge from Sebastian Vettel. The situation, however, started to unravel in 2023 when Alpine could not keep up the momentum that it built in 2022. The team had the fourth fastest car on the grid that season but coming into 2023, it was overhauled by both Aston Martin and McLaren.
That led to a change of management and the departure of team principal Otmar Szafneur, among other senior members. Bruno Famin took over from Otmar and the reign has been less than pleasant for the team. After a completely wrong development direction, key members of the technical team handed in their resignation. With driver contracts close to expiry at the end of the season, rumors of Esteban Ocon talking to multiple teams surfaced.
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To make things worse, Esteban Ocon being the perpetrator of the clash with teammate Pierre Gasly in Monaco hurt his chances further. In the team's press release, Ocon said:
“It’s been a significant period of my life to be racing at this team in Formula 1. While I’ve been here for five years as a full-time racing driver, my professional career started at Enstone back when I was a teenager, so it will always be a special place for me."
He added:
"We have had some great moments together, some tough moments as well, and I am certainly grateful to everyone at the team for these memorable times. I will announce my plans very soon but, in the meantime, my full focus is on delivering on track for this team and having a successful remainder of the season.”
Alpine thanks Esteban Ocon for his contribution
Alpine team principal Bruno Famin thanked Esteban Ocon for his contribution to the team. It does appear that Bruno had a major role to play when it came to getting rid of Ocon. The team has not made it clear who would be the second driver alongside Pierre Gasly, whose contract is also up for renewal.
Talking about Ocon's departure, Famin said:
“We would like to firstly thank Esteban for his commitment to the team for the past five years. During his time, we have celebrated some fantastic moments together, the best of which coming at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with a memorable race win."
He added:
"We still have 16 races to complete in 2024 together with a clear objective: to continue to work tirelessly as a team to push for the best on-track results. We wish Esteban the very best for the next chapter of his driving career when that moment comes.”
There's still a lack of clarity over Esteban Ocon's future. The driver is reported to be in advanced talks with multiple teams, including Haas and Sauber. It will be interesting to see what path the driver's future takes in the coming years.
