Flavio Briatore made life ‘extremely hard’ for Esteban Ocon with one decision before he left Alpine

Esteban Ocon left Alpine at the end of 2024 to join Haas. His exit was described as a mutual decision in the midst of a difficult final year.

While all the focus was on Lewis Hamilton, who had just completed the longest-ever stint at a single team, it was easy to overlook the fact that Ocon had also made more than 100 appearances for the Enstone outfit.

He’d joined in 2019 when they were still known as Renault and was ever-present as Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso came and went. He delivered the team’s first victory (post-rebrand) at the 2021 Hungarian GP, and scored further podiums in Monaco (2023) and Brazil (2024).

However, former team principal Bruno Famin was furious with Ocon after his careless collision with teammate Pierre Gasly in Monte Carlo last year. He apparently considered benching him for reserve driver Jack Doohan, who ended up being his replacement.

Those two visits in F1’s most iconic race – a year apart – summed up Ocon’s Alpine career. There were glorious highs, but also controversies that tarnished his image.

Esteban Ocon reflects on ‘difficult’ exit from Alpine after Flavio Briatore pursued early split

In the hours after the Qatar GP last December, it emerged that Ocon was in talks with Alpine over an early separation. According to Ted Kravitz, Flavio Briatore was reluctant to hand Ocon over to Haas for the post-season test in Abu Dhabi.

Thus, he proposed a compromise – Ocon would relinquish his cockpit to give Doohan a head-start, and in return he could jump in the Haas on the Tuesday after the race. The Frenchman accepted his terms, but he still found it ‘extremely hard’.

Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Ocon admitted that it was tough to watch the race from a nearby hotel. He’d either been in the car or in the garage since his F1 debut in 2016.

“It was extremely hard, for sure,” he said. “I really wanted to finish this story on a high with the team, but we can’t remake the past.

“What was even harder was the fact that I watched the race from the hotel. I’ve never missed a race since I joined Formula 1, since 2016.

“Even when I was reserve in 2019 [for Mercedes], I was always on site. As soon as there was a car firing up, I’m there – I’m behind the exhaust or behind the wheel.

“I decided not to disrupt the team’s last race at Haas – it was K-Mag’s last race with the team and Nico’s last race with the team. I just let them focus on what they had to do.

“There was a lot to play for, and I didn’t want to be a disruption. I stayed at the hotel, watched the race. It was a difficult one for sure, because it was never supposed to be happening, but it’s not a nice feeling to be outside of where you should be.”

Esteban Ocon silences his critics after Nikita Mazepin moment at Haas

For a brief moment, it looked as if Ocon’s decision to join Haas would backfire. They started the year as the slowest team on the grid at the Australian GP.

But Haas, to their credit, produced a remarkably quick turnaround that allowed the 28-year-old to finish P5 a week later in China (following the disqualification of the two Ferraris).

After a disappointing weekend in Japan, Ocon claimed his Haas upgrades weren’t delivering. They were more optimised, he said, for teammate Oliver Bearman.

That raised concerns, and Ocon then emulated Nikita Mazepin, the notorious Haas flop, with a crash in Bahrain qualifying. He was subject to taunts from F1 fans, but he silenced them with a stellar drive from P14 to P8.