“Deal” with Flavio Briatore behind Esteban Ocon’s early Alpine F1 exit
The reason for Esteban Ocon's early Alpine F1 exit has been revealed.
Esteban Ocon’s early exit from Alpine is linked to taking part in the post-season F1 test with his new team, Haas.
After the F1 Qatar Grand Prix, reports emerged that Ocon will not race for Alpine in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Ocon is expected to step away from Alpine for the final race of the season, giving Jack Doohan an early F1 debut alongside Pierre Gasly.
Alpine refused to comment when asked by Crash.net about the speculation.
As per Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz, he explained that Ocon and Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore “struck a deal”, leading to the Frenchman’s premature exit.
The “deal” should mean Ocon gets to drive for Haas on Tuesday in the post-race Abu Dhabi test.
“I can confirm now that things have ended completely for Esteban Ocon in terms of him being an Alpine driver,” Kravitz said during Sky’s Qatar GP broadcast.
“Those few hundred metres were his last as an Alpine driver. He will be replaced by Jack Doohan who’s got that seat for next year at next week’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“This isn’t an immediate sacking or anything like this. This is a plea bargain. I understand the situation from the team is that Ocon was very keen to do the test, the post-season test on the Tuesday after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, for his new team, Haas. And he went to Flavio Briatore, the man who makes the decisions at Alpine. He said ‘Flavio, can I do the test?
“And Flavio was like ‘what’s in it for me?’. It seems that they’ve reached a deal, maybe influenced by what’s happened at the first corner, maybe not and Flavio’s deal is that you can do the test for Haas if you don’t race in Abu Dhabi for Alpine because I would like to give Doohan a running start at next year’s Alpine employment. That is the deal that has been struck.”
A tough run of form for Ocon with Alpine
Ocon will be happy that his time with Alpine is coming to an end prematurely.
While he did claim a stunning podium at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in wet conditions, it’s been a difficult last few races - in the dry - for Ocon.
Ocon’s not had the latest Alpine upgrades which have contributed to Gasly’s impressive run of performances.
Alpine are adamant there’s been nothing wrong with Ocon’s F1 car.
Ocon qualified last on merit in Qatar, while Gasly was a Q3 contender at the Lusail International Circuit.
His race then ended on the opening lap.
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