Racing at Alpine no ’fun’ anymore, Ocon admits

Esteban Ocon has hinted that he’s looking forward to putting his Alpine adventure behind him, as it has detracted from the "fun" of racing in Formula 1.

Baku last weekend was a perfect summary of the Renault-owned team’s 2024 crisis, as the French driver struggled all weekend not only with a lack of pace, but multiple technical problems.

"We had so many problems," Ocon, who is switching to Haas for next season, said in Singapore. "We could hardly drive. It was also difficult in Monza.

"We will try to build up confidence here, collect laps and improve the car step by step, but I’m not even talking about performance. There were always different problems."

The official story is that the Alpine-Ocon split was mutual, but speculation suggests either the team tired of the 28-year-old’s selfish driving, or Ocon simply couldn’t face another season with the Enstone based team.

"It hasn’t been a fun season for anyone here so far," Ocon said on Thursday. "I haven’t enjoyed driving for a long time now. I want to end my chapter here as best as I can but ninth at the moment is what we deserve.

"We are doing everything we can to turn the situation around, but it’s very difficult to do so when the others are making progress. Yes it is not easy, but I am not giving up. Unfortunately, the end of this story is quite sad.

"I didn’t want to end it like this, but I’m doing my best for this brand that has been very special to me for so many years. I’ll stay focused until the end, of course, but I’ll also look at what they’re doing at Haas.

"They’re making very good progress," he said.

While some think Haas may have been Ocon’s only option for 2025 and beyond, he actually had a seat fitting at Williams this season and reportedly turned down an offer from Audi-owned Sauber.

Ocon, referring to Haas’ new team boss Ayao Komatsu, said: "Obviously I have a very long history with Ayao, who was my first race engineer in Formula 1, and he convinced me of his plan on where they want to head to."