Esteban Ocon complains about the lack of attention from Alpine – things should get better at Haas if the team listens to him and takes his feedback into account
Esteban Ocon, who has been driving for Renault and Alpine since 2020, is moving to Haas for the coming season. Even though the Frenchman won the Hungarian Grand Prix in the 2021 season, it is not so much the successes that the 27-year-old will take with him to his new team as the experience that will help him in the future
If there’s one lesson Ocon has learned during his time at Alpine, it’s that the team should listen to him more when making important technical decisions. On several occasions recently, the current Alpine driver has expressed his disappointment that the technicians and engineers have paid too little attention to him.
The Frenchman feels fulfilled and looks forward to the end of his time at Alpine without any particular bitterness or regret. “Regrets… No, because I gave everything I had for this team”,
“We weren’t always listened to “
“Regret to a point where not just me, but Daniel [Ricciardo], Fernando [Alonso] and Pierre [Gasly], all the drivers that have come through this team, have given feedback to the team, and normally there’s a cycle where you give information from the drivers to the team.”
“Then there’s a technical feedback, either yes, you’re right, we need to address this – or no, we can’t do this because of this or that, you know, as a compromise, we can’t do what you say because of that,” Ocon knows. “There’s never been anything like this before.”
“The following year, you realize that some of the problems you talked about have not been fixed, but have gone the other way.” A point that annoys Ocon in his fifth year with Renault/Alpine. “I try to lead this team as well as possible, but we have not always been listened to. “
During the Belgian GP, Ocon had already made it clear that he was missing progress at Alpine. “We are facing some problems with the current car that we already had three years ago,” the Frenchman criticized his current team. “You can’t do that, not in Formula 1.”
“And that’s the reason why some of the problems still exist, after five years in this team, and there are new people in the team now on the technical side. I wish them all the best and I hope this team can be successful. “
“Will make sure to get an answer “
“This circle has been key from the start and is not set up properly for us to make a move for the future.” The decision to switch to Haas in 2025 in order to get to know a completely new project under the management of Ayao Komatsu and, as Ocon is already convinced, a completely different way of working, was therefore not difficult for him.
In the team with Oliver Bearman, the Frenchman will of course contribute his experience and lessons learned from his time at Alpine. “I don’t know if it’s right to be a team leader, but I’m going to get involved, make an effort, try not to overlook any details and pass on everything I think is important in order to improve.”
And that should happen quickly, because “you don’t have to wait a year for something to happen, because things take time to develop, things take time to be created,” Ocon is certain. “And if you miss something in the first six months, it can take a year and six months for it to come to you.”
“I’ve now learned that the circle is the key,” says Ocon, drawing lessons from his years at Alpine. “I will make sure that when I say something, I get a response and an explanation – so that we can open a debate. Because if you just talk into the air, it fizzles out. And that leads nowhere. “
