Despite being an Alpine (formerly Renault) driver since 2020, Esteban Ocon still continues to have links with the Mercedes F1 family. Ocon joined the Mercedes driver academy back in 2015. Soon after, the Frenchman got his big break, midway through the 2016 season, with Manor. Since then, he’s raced for Mercedes’ customers, Force India/Racing Point, before he made the jump to Alpine. However, according to Gren Lagrue, the head of the driver development program at Brackley, Mercedes and Toto Wolff still manage him.
Lagrue told The Race (as quoted by Formule1.nl), “He (Ocon) is still very much connected to us. Esteban is an Alpine driver. He is fully committed to them, but we still manage his career. There are only twenty seats in Formula 1, so everyone always works together.”
Ocon joined Mercedes as a reserve driver in 2019 after he was left without a seat following Lawrence Stroll’s acquisition of Fore India. Moreover, it was Wolff who played an instrumental role in getting Ocon that Renault drive for the next season.
Rivalry with Fernando Alonso helped Esteban Ocon grow as a driver
The two years he spent battling Fernando Alonso at Alpine has helped prove how good of a racer Esteban Ocon really is. Lagrue agreed with this testimony as he revealed how impressed he was to see the 27-year-old often standing toe-to-toe with one of the fiercest rivals on the grid.
Consequently, Ocon was bred to become a tough racer on track for his rivals and any of his future teammates. Alonso is said to have unlocked hidden potential within Ocon during their two hard-fought years as teammates.
It came to the forefront in 2023. Ocon was pretty much on par with his new teammate, Pierre Gasly. The highly-rated Frenchman made the switch from AlphaTauri to Alpine last year and many expected Ocon to cave. However, Ocon stuck with Gasly with an 11-11 head-to-head in terms of Grand Prix results last year.
If Alonso and Ocon’s rivalry was intense, this new chapter of the Enstone-based team with Gasly and the former Force India driver can prove even more explosive. Both of them have had a history of being cutthroat nemeses of each other in the past. However, currently, things look cordial between the two.
