Ex-Alpine Executive Reveals Team Tracked Esteban Ocon’s Movement Through GPS

Esteban Ocon eventually decided to move to Haas in 2025, having been linked with several teams in the paddock. Now that his next destination is final, former Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski made a startling revelation ahead of qualifying in Belgium.

While speaking with Viaplay Poland, Budkowski revealed how the team got to know about Ocon holding talks with Williams. Ocon drove to the Williams factory in an Alpine car and parked it there for five hours.

An employee who tracked the car through GPS revealed it to Budkowsi. However, Budkowski did not have anything against Ocon as the team had already announced that they would be parting ways with the Frenchman at the end of 2024.

Budowski did admit, though, that Ocon was unaware of his movements being tracked by his current team through GPS. Budkowski said,

“He was in Enstone before the Silverstone race and when he’s there, he drives an Alpine that was lent to him as a company car. But these cars have trackers, the GPS. So it turned out that his Alpine car was parked in Williams’ parking lot for five hours during Esteban’s stay in Great Britain, and this is how everyone at Alpine found out that Esteban spent half a day there.”

Speaking on Viaplay Poland ahead of qualifying for the #BelgianGP, former Alpine executive director Marcin Budkowski revealed that the team’s employees found out about Esteban Ocon’s visit to the Williams factory via GPS in a company car of theirs! #F1 pic.twitter.com/Dm3k4wLpla

— Pit Debrief (@PitDebrief) July 27, 2024

Speaking with Motorsport.com, Williams boss James Vowles admitted considering Ocon as one of his targets. However, Vowles regrets not being able to get him to the team as Haas announced the deal. Vowles also revealed that Ocon was there at the factory to talk about his dimensions but not a seat fit.

The 6-foot-1 driver’s “dimensions are a bit difficult in certain dimensions,” Vowles said. This could be one of the reasons why neither party went through with the deal. Incidentally, it was the same reason that Williams rejected Ocon back in 2019 as well.