Esteban Ocon has a close affinity with mixed martial arts and the UFC, and supports his countryman Ciryl Gane who competes in the heavyweight division. In the past, the two have shared a very strong bond with the duo always supporting each other in their respective sporting exploits.
Recently, the two came face-to-face and had a chat for GQ France. Gane, who is the former interim UFC heavyweight champion, revealed his reaction to Ocon’s costly mistake at the 2024 Monaco GP—for which he was in attendance.
Speaking about how their respective sports are all about precision where the margin for error is negligible, Gane said, “I remember when I was in Monaco, [then that] collision and you say to yourself: it’s not true.”
The 35-year-old added how he felt “disgusted” seeing Ocon come together with his Alpine teammate, Pierre Gasly. “I see him [Ocon in his overalls], leaving. I was disgusted. You have no right to make a mistake. In my sport, it’s the same thing,” he said comparing the pressures of competing in F1 with the UFC.
The 2024 edition of the race on the streets of the Principality was a turning point in Ocon’s career with the Enstone-based team. On the opening lap, with the pack strung together, the Frenchman tried a daring move down the inside of Gasly’s car into the Portier corner.
More chaos on the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix
A close call for Gasly when his team-mate Ocon collided into the right front #F1 #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/tlR51nCI6a
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2024
Squeezing past the #10 driver, Ocon pushed his teammate towards the wall on the outside of the corner’s exit. With nowhere to go, Gasly’s front right tire made contact with Ocon’s rear left—catapulting the latter into the air. The resultant thump back onto the tarmac caused enough damage to the A524’s floor to make Ocon retire from the race.
Luckily for Alpine, Gasly was able to continue and finished in P10 at the chequered flag scoring a solitary point for the team. But Ocon’s move that almost caused a double DNF for the team rubbed team boss, Bruno Famin the wrong way.
He lambasted the #31 driver publicly, even vowing to take drastic actions against him.
“It was clear to us that the collision was caused solely by the overly ambitious overtaking attempt, from too far back. It’s sad, this kind of incident. It’s exactly what we didn’t want to see. And there will be the appropriate consequences,” Famin had said as per ESPN.
Less than a month later, the Enstone-based team announced that they had decided not to extend Ocon’s contract with the team and that he would be leaving them at the end of the 2024 season. In fact, he didn’t even see till the end of the season as Alpine drafted in Jack Doohan as a late replacement for Ocon at the season-finale at Abu Dhabi.
While the top brass at the French team were adamant that the Monaco GP collision wasn’t the primary stimulus of Ocon’s exit, it is understandable that they did not want to see Gasly and Ocon team up anymore, considering their fierce rivalry since karting.
Even though the French duo ended their stint together with a memorable podium in Brazil and sorted out their differences, these crashes would always remain as a sour reminder of their relationship and Ocon’s withered dynamic with Alpine.
