Esteban Ocon Announces Departure From Alpine At End Of 2024 Season

Monday, 03 June 2024 at 13:38

Updated at Monday, 03 June 2024 at 13:42

Esteban Ocon announced on Monday, June 3rd, that he would leave the Alpine Formula One team at the end of the 2024 season.

Esteban Ocon has been with Alpine since 2020 (when the team was named Renault). This is his fifth season driving for the French team, and as we've learned today, it will be his last.

Both Alpine and the 27-year-old shared their announcements on social media a while ago, and as of now, it isn't clear who will be Alpine's next driver or where Ocon will go. The French driver said:

"It's been a significant period of my life to be racing at this team in Formula 1. While I've been here for five years as a full-time racing driver, my professional career started at Enstone back when I was a teenager, so it will always be a special place for me."

"We have had some great moments together, some tough moments as well, and I am certainly grateful to everyone at the team for these memorable times."

Read also

Russell Ready To Challenge Verstappen As He Predicts His Next Career Move

Ocon teased some news coming from him "very soon," but now, he will focus on his performance for the rest of the season, which either suggests he doesn't have a contract yet or the team with which he has a contract isn't ready to announce it.

"I will announce my plans very soon but, in the meantime, my full focus is on delivering on track for this team and having a successful remainder of the season."

The 27-year-old has been under a lot of fire, especially after the most recent race at Circuit de Monaco, where he caused a collision with his teammate, Pierre Gasly.

He received a five-place grid penalty for the upcoming Grand Prix, but more importantly, he upset his team principal, Bruno Famin, who said during the race weekend that he might have to make a "tough decision" following this latest incident (which wasn't Ocon's first).

Could Ocon's separation from Alpine be the tough decision Famin was talking about? Many of us will be asking that right now.

F1 reporter Lawrence Barreto wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that his sources suggest the separation isn't a "direct result" of the incident in Monaco.

Lawrence Barretto

@lawrobarretto

·Follow

Esteban Ocon and Alpine will part ways at the end of 2024. Sources say this news is not a direct result of his collision with Gasly in Monaco, however, naturally it was a factor. No news on his replacement nor where Ocon will land in 2025 #F1

444

Read 14 replies

The team principal of the French team also issued a statement regarding the 27-year-old's departure at the end of the season. He said:

"We would like to firstly thank Esteban for his commitment to the team for the past five years. During his time, we have celebrated some fantastic moments together, the best of which coming at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with a memorable race win."

"We still have 16 races to complete in 2024 together with a clear objective: to continue to work tirelessly as a team to push for the best on-track results. We wish Esteban the very best for the next chapter of his driving career when that moment comes."