“Shots fired” as Alpine told they’ve “got a job on” to manage Esteban Ocon

“Perhaps a bit of paranoia creeps in. You don’t 💖know who your mates are in th🗹e team"

Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team in the FIA Press Conference. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 8, Monaco Grand Prix,
Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team in the FIA Press Conference. Formula 1 World Championship,…

Alpine have been warned about the possible difficulty of managing the outgoing Esteba🍷n Ocon for the 𓂃rest of the year.

Days after it was confirmed that the under-fire Ocon will exit Alpine at the end of this season, he was involved in a flashpoin✤t with his employers in Canada.

Ocon disputed a team orꦬders call, which he followed, to allow teammate Pierre Gasly through in the closing stages of the F1 Canadian Grand Prix.

Ocon called the request “nonsense” but gave Al🎐pine “the benefit of the doubt”.

F1 Nation podcast host Tom Clarkson said: “He thinks he has been to﷽o nice? Shots𒐪 have been fired!

“It was a very difficult weekend for Esteban. Two difficult weekends - the crash with Pierre in Monaco, the harsh conversations he had with the team, the news that he had coming to Montreal that 𓆉he would no longer be staying with the team.

“So it was difficult.𒈔 Then, the car wasn’t great in the dry o♉ver one lap.

“He’s on the back f🧸oot going into the grand prix. He had mechanical issues on the grid. I remember walking past the car, it was surrounded by mechanics, there were questions whether he’d even start the grand prix.

“Given all of that, he had a brilliant race!

“When he s൲ays ‘I am𓂃 too nice’ it’s a marker in the sand that ‘I am not going to do it again’.”

Natalie Pinkham replied: “Wh🌳en the dust settles I hope he reflects on how well he did.

“You’ve got💜 to remeﷺmber that he’s trying to sell himself now to other teams to try to secure his Formula 1 future.

“I find it so interesting - the likes of Lewis Hamilt💮on, Esteban, Carlos Sainz - when you know you’re leaving a team, how the mind-set shifts.

“Perhaps a🎀 bit of paranoia creeps in. You don’t know who your mates are in the team, and how they respond to you.

“🙈The dynamic changes with your teammate. The sharing of information changes.

“Look at Adrian Newey, he has basically b🧸een alienated from within.

Once you make that announcement, everything changes, and it’s how you manage it from𝓰 within.

“Bruno Famin has g♔ot a job on his hands to manage his two drivers.”

Clarkson added: ꧑“It looks like Gasly will stay there so they will include him in technical conversations, but exclude Ocon.”

Ocon caused a furore in Monaco last month when he coಞllided w𒊎ith teammate Gasly, dismaying Alpine.

Alpine are now on the lookout for a new driver for 2025 while Ocon♍ must seek employmeꦛnt elsewhere.

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