What will follow Alpine’s decision to part ways with Ocon?

Today it was announced that Esteban Ocon and Alpine F1 will part ways at the end of the year – therefore he will have to look for a new job and there will inevitably be changes to the Renault factory team.

It appears this was in response to the events in Monaco, where Esteban violated team management instructions, leading to a collision with Pierre Gasly and his withdrawal from the race.

According to the championship’s official website, both were warned even before qualifying that team tactics would be used and that the driver behind would have to cover his partner. Furthermore, they were reminded of these instructions before the start of Sunday’s race, but Ocon ignored them.

The anger of Bruno Famen, the team manager, is understandable, but informed sources believe that this is just a coincidence and that the two events are only partially linked, as Ocon’s prospects in the team have long been in doubt.

They knew that Esteban was in negotiations with other teams, mainly with Haas and Sauber/Audi, and in both cases he can be considered one of the real contenders for a place in 2025.

A conversation between Famen and Ocon took place on Thursday at the base in Enstone, during which Esteban learned that the team would not renew his contract, and the next day he made the statement we were talking about. Notably, he confirmed that he will start in Canada.

From today’s release from Alpine, it appears that the team will announce line-up changes for next season at a later date, but it can be assumed that Enstone is interested in continuing to work with Pierre Gasly. Another point is noteworthy: immediately after the announcement of the impending end of cooperation with Ocon, another release appeared on the team’s website – dedicated to the successful work of Jack Duane, the team’s reserve driver, on the simulator. Agree, this leads to certain thoughts…

Alpine greatly appreciates the Australian’s potential, he has found a common language with the team and if Jack makes his Formula 1 debut next year, this will confirm the effective work of the team’s racing academy.

However, it is believed that Valtteri Bottas is also among the contenders for this vacancy, although Williams and Haas are more actively showing interest in the experienced Finn. Moreover, they say that Famen is trying to bring Carlos Sainz back to Enstone, who spent 25 races behind the wheel of Renault cars in 2017 and 2018, but the chances that the Spaniard will be interested in this offer are small.

At the same time, Alpine also includes Mick Schumacher, who currently competes for the Alpine Endurance Team in the World Endurance Championship. Overall, the Renault factory team has quite a few options.

Most likely, Ocon will not be left without work either, because he is a fast and experienced driver and already has one victory and three podiums to his name. Although he has a reputation for always ruining relations with his teammates, it is unlikely that this will be a serious problem.