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Esteban Ocon is to leave Alpine at the end of the year after five seasons with the French team.
The move comes in the wake of Ocon angering team principal Bruno Famin by crashing with team-mate Pierre Gasly on the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.
Ocon said: “We have had some great moments together, some tough moments as well, and I am grateful to everyone at the team for these memorable times.”
Famin said: “We have celebrated some fantastic moments together.
“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.
Alpine and Ocon represented their split as a mutual decision in a joint statement, saying they had “agreed together”.
Famin said on French television after the Monaco race that there would be “consequences” for the collision.
And while it would be inaccurate to say that it was the direct cause of the split between team and driver that has been announced eight days later, because the pair have been discussing their future for months, the Monaco incident did effectively finalise a direction of travel that was already set.
Ocon joined the team in 2020 when they were known by the name of parent company Renault and scored one win in Hungary in 2021 in addition to two further podium finishes during his time there.
But the Frenchman’s stay at Alpine has been marked by intermittent tensions with his team-mates – first with Fernando Alonso through 2021-22 and more recently since Gasly joined the team for 2023.
The French pairing are former childhood friends who had a falling out some years ago, and both admit they will never be close again.
Famin was particularly upset by the incident in Monaco because the drivers had been repeatedly told throughout the weekend that whoever qualified in front would be given priority and the other would be expected to assist their race in whatever way possible.
But after Gasly qualified 10th and Ocon 11th, Ocon went for a move down the inside of Portier on the opening lap and the pair collided on the exit, leading to Ocon’s retirement.
F1 stewards found Ocon guilty of causing a collision and handed him a five-place grid penalty for this weekend’s race in Canada.
Ocon said he would announce where he would be driving in 2025 “very soon”.
The 27-year-old is managed by Mercedes but is not in the running for a move there, despite the seat left vacant by Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari next season.
He is expected to end up at one of Sauber, where he is behind Carlos Sainz on the wish-list of the team that will become Audi in 2026, Haas or Williams. (BBC Sports)
F.A
June 4, 2024
Tags: Alpine Ocon
