Alpine executive adviser Flavio Briatore made his true feelings about Esteban Ocon perfectly clear in Drive to Survive as he hit out at the 2025 Haas racer’s complaints.
The Frenchman has a new team for the season ahead as Ocon signed with Haas after Alpine axed him. He will partner full-season F1 rookie Oliver Bearman as the American squad move on from Sauber recruit Nico Hulkenberg plus Kevin Magnussen, who is not on F1’s 2025 grid.
Ocon signed a £6.5m-a-season, two-year contract with Haas last July after learning Alpine were not extending his deal beyond the 2024 season. The 28-year-old enjoyed five years in Enstone having joined whilst they were still Renault in 2020 before becoming Alpine in 2021.
Flavio Briatore brands Esteban Ocon a ‘spoiled brat’ in Drive to Survive for complaining about Alpine’s F1 car
Alpine decided the 28-year-old’s time in Enstone was over after teammates Ocon and Pierre Gasly crashed at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix. The Evreux native would not see out the year, either, as Briatore wanted Jack Doohan to replace Ocon at the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Tensions had been building between Ocon and Briatore at Alpine ever since Groupe Renault, which owns the team, brought the latter back 15 years after he was forced to resign from his position as Renault’s team principal because of Crashgate at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Who is Alpine’s F1 executive adviser Flavio Briatore? Everything to know
One of the biggest issues from Briatore’s view, which he expressed to Netflix in Episode 9 of Season 7 of Drive to Survive, was how Ocon often complained about Alpine’s car during the 2024 F1 season. Briatore took particular issue with how Ocon felt Gasly had a different car.
Netflix leads into Briatore’s claim with Ocon noting: “I think this has been the most difficult season here, to date. Unfortunately, the car that we’ve had since the beginning of the year has been tricky. The car is not as competitive as we would like.”
Straight after Ocon’s interview snippet, Drive to Survive cuts immediately to Briatore as the Alpine executive adviser states: “For months, Esteban was complaining all the time about the car was different, this and that. I don’t like that. Don’t be a spoiled brat.”
Esteban Ocon often felt Alpine gave Pierre Gasly preferential treatment in F1 2024
Ocon’s sense that Gasly had a different car to him grew early in the year and, again, over the final rounds of the 2024 season. Despite the pair sharing the podium in P2 and P3 at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Ocon felt Gasly had an unfair advantage after the United States Grand Prix.
Alpine gave Gasly, who the team retained alongside Doohan for the 2025 campaign, a major upgrade set at the Circuit of the Americas which Ocon did not initially receive. Ocon went on to finish the Sprint behind Gasly in P14 and P15 but they were P12 and P18 in the main race.
READ MORE: Haas driver Esteban Ocon’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
Tensions had even emerged in the Alpine garage early in the season whilst Bruno Famin was their team principal, before being replaced by Oliver Oakes. Ocon grew frustrated that Gasly got Alpine’s lighter chassis from the Miami Grand Prix having started the 2024 term using it.
Leave feedback about this