The partnership between Esteban Ocon and Alpine ends with the 2024 season. On June 3, the driver and team confirmed that Ocon’s contract, which expires at the end of the year, will not be renewed. However, there is no question that Ocon wants to stay in Formula 1. Where exactly is to be announced soon.
By the Monaco weekend at the latest, the rumors about Ocon’s departure from Enstone, where he had been driving continuously since 2020, had become acute. This very weekend, of all days, there was a confrontation between team and driver after Ocon rammed teammate Pierre Gasly on the first lap. Team boss Bruno Famin then threatened consequences in TV interviews.
The now official separation of Ocon and Alpine has nothing to do with this incident. On the contrary – it is more likely that it was already fixed or as good as fixed beforehand. There is also no truth to the theories circulating in some quarters about a ban imposed by the team for the Canadian GP. Ocon had already made this clear on social media at the weekend. In any case, Ocon will finish the entire 2024 season for the Renault Group’s F1 team.
Esteban Ocon is next to abandon Renault’s F1 project
Nevertheless, it is an inglorious end to Ocon’s Alpine-Renault career. The Frenchman joined the team in 2020 as a preferred candidate. He took over the cockpit from Nico Hülkenberg from the Mercedes bench. A difficult first year alongside Daniel Ricciardo was followed by better ones alongside Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly.
In 2021, Ocon’s big moment came at the Hungarian GP, when he (with luck and help from Alonso) took his first and only victory. Apart from that, however, he only took two more podiums in a five-year collaboration. The main reason was the car. Despite its ambitions, Alpine never made it beyond the midfield. On the contrary: in 2024, the last year of Ocon’s last three-year contract, the team even fell to the back of the field.
Internally, under the new team boss Bruno Famin, restructuring is taking place on all fronts. Almost all of the major personnel and executives have been replaced over the past two years. Ocon is also someone who was hired by one of the previous management teams. Famin publicly expressed his thanks in a press release: “We still have 16 races ahead of us in 2024, with a clear goal: to work tirelessly as a team to achieve the best possible results on the track.”
“We wish Esteban all the best for the next chapter of his career when the moment comes,” said Famin. It should be noted that Alpine speaks of a mutual decision. And here again, Ocon is by no means the first driver to have decided against the team in Enstone. Since 2020, Daniel Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri all actively wanted to leave the team.
Many Formula 1 teams available: Where will Esteban Ocon go in 2025?
This is how the relationship between Ocon and Alpine has been pushed up to the point of a probably inevitable separation on both sides. The exciting question now is what will happen next. “As with many drivers this season, a lot has been said about my future beyond 2024,” said Ocon. “News will be announced very soon.”
The 27-year-old Ocon started out in the junior teams of Renault and Mercedes and has delivered good performances for Force India and Renault-Alpine, among others, over the course of his career, which has spanned 141 Grands Prix to date. He is not considered a top driver, but he is certainly fast. This is precisely what makes him interesting for almost all teams with open cockpits for 2025.
So Ocon is now perhaps the second most exciting option behind Carlos Sainz, who is still holding everyone back. As a former Mercedes junior, it cannot even be ruled out that he is at least somewhere on Toto Wolff’s list. The more obvious candidates are at the back of the field. Recently there have been rumors of advanced negotiations with Williams and Haas. Sauber also still has a free spot.
Alpine has (at least) 1 cockpit: chance for Schumacher or Doohan?
Meanwhile, Alpine has to start looking again. Incidentally, Pierre Gasly in the second cockpit does not yet have a guaranteed 2025 contract, and he too has been linked with alternatives. With the personnel turbulence and the poor performances on the track, Alpine is currently not an attractive destination, even as a Renault works team.
This could open doors for less prominent players in the driver market. Mick Schumacher, who is currently spending his second year as Mercedes’ reserve driver, is still asking around in the paddock. He already has a connection with Alpine: he has been a driver in the Le Mans program since this year. Team boss Bruno Famin has already named him as one of many F1 options.
At the same time, Alpine is also putting young driver Jack Doohan through a test program with old F1 cars in the background. The son of motorcycle legend Mick Doohan moved from the Red Bull to the Alpine squad in 2022. In two years in F2, however, he never got beyond third place overall. Apart from Schumacher and Doohan, there are of course numerous other options on the driver market – the pool is still deep due to the lack of fixed deals in the back field. More on Alpine’s driver thoughts here: