On the finish of fifth consecutive season racing for Enstone’s Formulation 1 workforce, Esteban Ocon will depart the workforce at the moment often known as Alpine on the conclusion of 2024 to affix Haas.
On the face of it, the 27-year-old isn’t having fun with a very excellent season. For one factor, he’s behind workforce mate Pierre Gasly within the championship by a single level after solely managing to report 4 high ten finishes within the first 14 rounds of the season.
However as can so usually be the case in Formulation 1, trying on the outcomes alone hardly ever tells an entire image.
Alpine started the season with a automobile that simply wasn’t on the degree of efficiency the workforce anticipated or ought to have been at, given their assets and place in final 12 months’s championship. However whereas the opening rounds had been an train in frustration and excessive persistence, Ocon was clearly the one who coped higher within the scenario between him and Gasly.
Ocon started the 12 months out-qualifying Gasly in every of the primary 5 rounds. Whereas it took till the fifth try in China for Gasly to flee Q1 for the primary time, Ocon had carried out so thrice by that very same level. The common margin between them in qualifying over that span sat at 0.21s in Ocon’s favour.
He was superior within the races too. Except for the Australian Grand Prix, Ocon beat his workforce mate to the chequered flag in 5 of the primary six rounds by which they each completed – and even his Melbourne afternoon was compromised when a rogue tear-off strip acquired caught in his brake duct. His work in Jeddah was additionally worthy of reward, ending forward of each RBs, a Williams and each Saubers when the workforce was nonetheless scrambling desperately to search out any tempo they might. He even secured the workforce’s first level of the complete season in Miami with a really stable drive on Sunday, once more beating Gasly to the workforce’s first high ten of the championship.
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However regardless of placing in some very stable work over the early part of the season, Ocon was responsible of one of the crucial pointless and foolishly egocentric acts of the complete 12 months in Monaco. Having been out-qualified by Gasly, Ocon was determined to not lose out to his workforce mate initially and lose preferential remedy for the remainder of the race. He threw his automobile up the within of Gasly’s into Portier, resulting in an inevitable collision that pitched him up into the air and induced irreparable injury to his automobile and threatened to value Gasly his race too.
Though Ocon accepted accountability and was relieved when Gasly was in a position to take the restart and rating some extent in tenth, the injury had been carried out. It was hardly coincidence that, earlier than the following spherical in Canada, Alpine introduced that they might be shifting on from Ocon on the finish of the season.
Esteban Ocon
| Finest | Worst | |
|---|---|---|
| GP begin | 9 | 19 (x2) |
| GP end | 9 | 18 |
| Factors | 5 | |
After this embarrassing episode, Ocon managed to bounce again on the subsequent spherical in Montreal. A really robust Sunday noticed him make his intermediate tyres final over half the race earlier than switching to slicks. Though he completed behind Gasly, that was primarily right down to him surrendering ninth to his workforce mate beneath orders within the closing laps.
Following a trio of rounds by which Gasly out-qualified him, Ocon turned the tables on his workforce mate into the summer season break with a run of 4 consecutive Saturday afternoons the place he was the quicker Alpine driver – though Silverstone wouldn’t actually rely as a consequence of Gasly having entered that weekend with a ‘again of the grid’ penalty.
The newest spherical of the championship, Belgium, was probably Ocon’s better of the season. After lacking the opening follow session with a water leak, he managed to achieve Q3 for the third time in 5 rounds. Though he misplaced locations initially, his race was wonderful – passing a number of rivals over the race, together with Daniel Ricciardo within the closing laps to take his greatest end of the season in ninth following George Russell’s disqualification.
All through the season, Ocon has proven appreciable grit within the face of the disappointing efficiency of his automobile. However except for having the sting over his workforce mate for the majority of the season – if not on the scoreboard – Ocon has additionally demonstrated the qualities which have led Haas to take of venture on him over Kevin Magnussen for 2025.
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