BY: EDDIE KALEGI
Credit: Alpine F1 Team on X
Esteban Ocon has Alpine's only Formula One grand prix victory. Now, the team is treating him like a scrub.
With the driver's championship already settled, a variety of storylines have stolen the show ahead of this weekend's season-ending race in Abu Dhabi. These range from Lewis Hamilton's looming Mercedes swansong, to the growing feud between Hamilton's teammate George Russell and world champion Max Verstappen, to Arthur Leclerc making history practicing alongside his brother Charles for Ferrari. However, one story rises above the rest, and it involves the organization ranked sixth in the constructors' table, Alpine.
Just three races after a season-best second place finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix, the 28 year-old Frenchman was caught off guard after Qatar, as the team informed him that Jack Doohan, his 2025 replacement alongside Pierre Gasly, will begin his Alpine tenure one race early, usurping Ocon's seat for the campaign capper in Abu Dhabi.
To say Ocon was blindsided was an understatement. In a social media post hours after receiving the news, the future Haas driver expressed gratitude for the organization he called home for half a decade, but was disappointed to not don his specially prepared helmet and leave a proper farewell.
"The plan was always to race one last time this weekend and personally say goodbye to all you next week," Ocon said. "This is not how I wanted things to end."
It's no secret that Esteban Ocon's performance has been inconsistent at best for the duration of his Alpine tenure, scoring four podiums in five years and never a points finish higher than eighth, with four years in the bottom half of the driver's standings. It's also true that Ocon's relationship with fellow Frenchman Pierre Gasly hasn't been the greatest, and Gasly has outperformed him, deservedly earning the opportunity to retain his seat in 2025.
But let this man finish out the season. This is what he deserves. What is Alpine going to gain with one race from Jack Doohan ahead of major technical changes next season?
When Brad Pitt is getting a better sendoff than Esteban Ocon from the Alpine camp, you know there's a problem. It's not fair. Let your only winner end the era on his own terms.
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