Why Alpine regular Esteban Ocon has to sit out Friday’s practice session in Montreal and what role his Monaco accident with Gasly plays in this
After the team-mate crash at the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix between Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, Alpine team boss Bruno Famin announced “consequences”. A few days later, the racing team announced Ocon’s departure at the end of the season, followed shortly afterwards by Ocon’s absence from the first free practice session for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal at the weekend – was it all just a coincidence?
An Alpine spokesperson told the BBC that test driver Jack Doohan’s Friday outing in Canada was not a retaliation against Ocon, who caused the accident. Doohan’s participation in training in Montreal had already been planned before Monaco and had simply not been communicated in advance, according to Alpine.
According to the team, the handicap for Ocon in Canada is less than elsewhere anyway: due to the grid penalty imposed in Monaco, the Frenchman’s weekend would be impaired anyway. And because Alpine is currently lagging behind with the A524, Friday practice sessions could become even more important as the season progresses, provided the car’s performance can be improved by then.
And so Doohan completes the first of his two Friday sessions for Alpine in Canada, thus fulfilling part of the Formula 1 requirements: each team must give two Friday sessions per year to young drivers, with both regular drivers having to take one break each. This means that Gasly will be a spectator at the next Doohan race and Ocon will drive
Ocon just wants to drive (and forget?)
The latter, by the way, is exactly what Ocon is particularly looking forward to after the turbulent days since Monaco: “Getting to drive again. Because a lot has been said in the past few days,” says the Alpine man.
His announced retirement at the end of the season plays no role for him for the rest of the year: “I’m fully focused on achieving the best possible results for the team, starting this weekend in Canada,” Ocon assures us.
Important probationary opportunity for Doohan for 2025
For Doohan, however, the Canadian stint represents an important opportunity to prove himself: He is seen as one of the possible successors in the cockpit that Ocon will vacate at the end of the season.
Is that why he is being sent out on track in the current car at such an early stage of the year? In previous years, things were different: in 2022 and 2023, Alpine only allowed Doohan to take part in the mandatory Friday practice sessions in Mexico and Abi Dhabi in the final stages of the season. Now it’s Doohan’s turn much earlier, and immediately after the major Ocon crisis in Monaco
How Alpine justifies the deployment of Doohan
Team boss Famin, however, merely refers to Doohan’s “great work” in the simulator. The Australian has supported Alpine well in the past races and will also provide “valuable feedback” in Canada, says Famin
However: Doohan is driving at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the first time and is “really excited” about his season debut in the A524: “I’m grateful to the team that I can drive the current car so early in the season. It will also help me with my work in the simulator, especially in the upcoming European races. “
The Friday drivers so far in the 2024 season
Alpine is the third team in the 2024 Formula 1 season with a Friday driver. Only Racing Bulls (in Suzuka) and Haas (in Imola) have already given a practice session to a young driver.
Only Haas test driver Oliver Bearman’s commitments for the rest of the season are fixed. All other teams have not yet published their plans.
It is also unclear what the future holds for Ocon following his separation from Alpine. However, the long-time Formula 1 driver probably has at least two possible places to start in order to remain on the grid in 2025
