Alpine has confirmed that Esteban Ocon will not race for the team at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, giving him the chance to test with new his team Haas early.
The Frenchman has known he will be leaving Alpine at the end of the season since June. Ocon will make the move to Haas alongside Oliver Bearman in what is a new driver pairing for the American outfit.
But the 28-year-old has now been given an early exit from the Enstone-based outfit to allow for him to test with Haas in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi. Alpine’s 2025 signing Jack Doohan will replace Ocon, giving him an early opportunity to showcase his skills in F1.
Ocon has been with Alpine since they ran under the Renault name in 2020 before they switched to their current branding the following year. The Frenchman scored the team’s only win to date at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix – which is also his only win in F1.
The 28-year-old’s five-year stint at the Enstone-based team ultimately went out on a whimper at the Qatar Grand Prix, as he was taken out of the race at the first corner in a collision with Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto.
Esteban Ocon had ‘tensions’ with Alpine long before team principal Oliver Oakes’ decided to drip him for Abu Dhabi
Alpine decided to cut ties with Ocon after the race, but speaking on the Pit Talk Podcast, Matt Coch says that the decision had been in the works for some time.
Ocon has come to blows with Pierre Gasly numerous times as teammates, with their incident at the Monaco Grand Prix sparking ‘tensions’ between the former and Alpine.
As Coch saw team principal Oliver Oakes in conversation with the team’s engineers in Qatar, he noted that these previous incidents – along with his retirement that weekend – led to Ocon’s early dismissal.
“Ocon has been on thin ice with that team for a long time. I think back to Monaco where he clarted Pierre Gasly, he was benched for FP1 in Canada, was told back then that he’d miss the Canadian Grand Prix as punishment for that,” he said.
“There is one rule in Formula 1 where you don’t make contact with your teammate, and he pretty comprehensively broke that one in Monaco.
“And tensions have remained throughout. Ok, there was a double podium in Sao Paulo, but that doesn’t make up for all the other tension.
“I was in the Alpine hospitality at the end of the race on Sunday night and I was witness to an exchange between Oli Oakes and a few of the engineers.
“And it’s not something that I can talk about verbatim, but it gave me a very good insight into the esteem with which Esteban is held within that organisation and perhaps the motives to the decision that they made.”
What have people been saying about Jack Doohan as he makes history with his F1 debut in Abu Dhabi
With Ocon’s departure, Alpine now have the chance to see their new signing Doohan in action alongside Gasly ahead of his full-time debut in F1 in 2025.
Doohan will be the first F1 driver to make his debut in Abu Dhabi as the 21-year-old becomes the second Aussie on the grid alongside Oscar Piastri and the 16th driver from Australia to make a race start.
Oliver Bearman and Nelson Piquet Jr applauded Doohan’s early arrival, with the Aussie set to become the fourth driver to make an appearance in 2024 over a full-time driver alongside Bearman, Franco Colapinto and Liam Lawson.
Jack Doohan has already impressed in Abu Dhabi during his days in Formula 2, and the 21-year-old will be eager to have a positive weekend with Alpine ahead of the 2025 season.
