Esteban Ocon Throws Shade at Alpine Over Farewell Tribute Dominated by Pierre Gasly

Amid improving form toward the business end of the 2024 season, Alpine has garnered some unnecessary spotlight over Esteban Ocon’s exit. The #31 driver is leaving the team and will join Haas in 2025. Still, with one race weekend remaining, Alpine has released him and given their reserve driver Jack Doohan a chance to race.

The French team’s decision has received some backlash, as Ocon won’t be getting a proper farewell race weekend in Abu Dhabi. On top of this, a tribute post for him by the Alpine Cars’ official Instagram page may not have gone down well with the 28-year-old.

The post — which is now deleted — featured six pictures, out of which four were of Pierre Gasly and his car that finished P5 in Qatar last weekend. This mega result helped Alpine return to P6 in the constructors’ standings. However, coupling that with a farewell “thank you” tribute for Ocon wasn’t the best idea perhaps.

“Thank you for this thoughtful tribute“, Ocon commented on the now-deleted post. It is difficult to understand whether Ocon was sarcastic or did he actually appreciate the post and ignored the compilation of pictures.

Nevertheless, Ocon has been quite professional so far since his retirement at the Qatar GP. He probably knew that he won’t be racing in Abu Dhabi, which was only confirmed officially on Monday.

The Frenchman feels that it is the right move as Alpine also need to “prepare for the future”. Ocon thanked all of his engineers and mechanics in his post-race comments in Qatar, which fueled his early exit rumors.

As for Alpine‘s announcement and tribute expressing their gratitude towards him, they have posted a graphic saying “Merci Esteban”. Still, it feels odd that the Enstone-based outfit won’t be giving a proper farewell to the driver who has got the majority of their podiums in recent years and won their first and only Grand Prix in the last 16 years.

Why has Alpine released Ocon early?

It may seem like a strange decision, but there is some logic to Alpine’s decision to let Ocon go before the Abu Dhabi GP. The #31 driver is also looking to drive for Haas in the post-season test after the Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit.

And with the French team keen on giving Doohan — who will replace Ocon in 2025 — some track time, it seems like an ideal solution for all. Alpine team boss Oliver Oakes discussed the same after the Qatar GP on Sunday.

“I think it comes from all sides really. I guess you could say it’s good to get Jack in early. I think you could say from Esteban’s side it’s good to move on early. I think it suits everybody. So I think the discussion is quite natural really”, Oakes said.

Ocon won’t mind this too much, as anyway he had a lot of troubles this season with his teammate and old rival Gasly. While the French duo reconciled after a stellar Brazil GP double podium result, the animosity between them has been deep-rooted for several years now.