Esteban Ocon will not drive for Alpine at this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the team confirmed on Monday. Instead, 2025 signing Jack Doohan will make an early debut for the team.
Rumours of Ocon’s sudden Alpine exit first emerged during the Qatar GP on Sunday. The Frenchman had retired from the race after a first-corner incident with Franco Colapinto and Nico Hulkenberg.
In an interview afterwards, he thanked his mechanics and engineers for their work throughout the year. Ordinarily, a driver would only do this at their final race.
But it soon became clear that Ocon had reached an agreement with Flavio Briatore to step aside. He’s known since June that his time with Alpine was coming to an end.
Ocon is to race for their midfield rivals Haas in 2025, alongside Oliver Bearman. Doohan will step up from the reserve driver role to partner Pierre Gasly.
The hope is that the Australian will benefit from having a full Grand Prix weekend under his belt before the new season. He’s previously driven in six FP1 sessions.
Toto Wolff helped negotiate Esteban Ocon’s Alpine exit before Jack Doohan arrival
According to Australian outlet Speedcafe, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was involved in a ‘three-way deal’ facilitating Ocon’s release. He held talks with Briatore and Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu.
Ocon came into F1 as a Mercedes young driver and was the team’s reserve in 2019 between his stints at Force India and Renault. Wolff has remained part of his management even after his move to another manufacturer.
It was only in the ‘hours after the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint’ on Saturday that a deal was struck. That explains why there was little indication of what was about to happen.
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Tom Clarkson revealed that he’d seen Ocon leaving Wolff’s office earlier in the weekend. While he didn’t understand the significance at the time, it’s clear now what they were discussing.
He said: “I unwittingly bore witness to his. I was interviewing Toto Wolff earlier today. And I was waiting outside his office. I was told don’t go in, and then out walks Esteban Ocon. They’d obviously been having this big meeting.”
Why Esteban Ocon’s Alpine exit is different to Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull departure
Ocon becomes the third driver to start the 2024 season and fail to finish it. Logan Sargeant lost his Williams seat after the Dutch GP in August, while RB’s Daniel Ricciardo made it to the Singapore GP.
In principal, both those drivers were dropped for underperformance. But while he’s been outscored by Pierre Gasly (36-23), his case is different.
Indeed, he won the qualifying head-to-head 13-9 and also beat Gasly in 11 of the 18 races they both finished. Ocon felt Gasly had an unfair advantage from the US GP onwards, but Alpine’s thorough examinations of his car unearthed no evidence to support that theory.
Crucially, Ocon asked Briatore if he could test for Haas in the post-season session at Yas Marina. The Italian agreed on the condition that his departing driver step aside for his new hire.
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