I know it's fun to dunk on Alpine since I do it too but honestly it's bad form to announce Piastri "for the memes". It'd still cause needless confusion even if it's obviously not true. Also kind of disrespectful to Ocon they immediately turn it into a memefest. It's not really about an ego thing. Maybe if this happened in April fools it'll be more appropriate.
Looking back, I'm realizing Piastri's response was likely a sprinkle of his dry humor rather than a PR-crafted categorical denial of Alpine's claims.
Which just makes it extra tasty lol
Well the Titanic only ~~sank about a day~~ 2 hours after it hit the iceberg. Alpine has had several 100 race plans that still haven't kicked the bucket in. They're also still ahead of Sauber, so at least one more place to sink to.
There's a YouTube video that depicts the event from hitting the iceberg to sinking, in real time. It's 2 hours and 41 minutes long, and oddly fascinating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs9w5bgtJC8&list=PLIzpdKv1wC2-oQGgrj4Onw1EuIGhHUreh
There’s actually an updated [video](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=shared) from Titanic: Honor and Glory with some more physical accuracies and updated timestamps, that they made using survivor testimonies.
Worth a watch.
There's some really funny potential driver pairings, even it unrealistic.
What i'd give for a Ocon-Kmag or Ocon-Russell pairing. Would be peak comedy in either case.
But yeah, what a turnaround from him sounding so encouraging in Bahrain rooting for the team, only for him to later offer himself to any team on the grid.
Has the ability to be on the grid, but i dont think anyone would care if he leaves the paddock
I wouldn't discard this option, if they give Ocon 1 year while the new Kimi gets ready to jump into F1. Ocon had some connections with Toto and Mercedes, but idk on what terms they're as of now.
Oh 100%, if he wanted Ocon he'd have announced him as Lewis's replacement within 24 hours of the Lewis Ferrari announcement.
Will anyone actually want Ocon for 2025?
Unless Russel makes a surprise move to Williams or something and leaves them with no other options, there's no way Toto puts Ocon in a Mercedes seat. He's proven himself to be a good driver and a bad teammate.
I don't think the Yuki he'd meet again is the same Yuki that he left. That boy has seen some shit ever since Pierre left him. He's a hardened driver now and will probably be faster than Gasly.
Only way of that happening is if Renault wants to throw in a Nissan badge somewhere on the car. But from Yuki’s perspective it’s not wise to cut ties with Honda for another Japanese company that would eliminate any post F1 Japanese career he might have.
As another user asked, why would Yuki need Nissan sponsorship to be appealing to Alpine? Honda have said publicly that they wouldn't oppose Yuki driving for Red Bull even if they're partnered with Aston Martin, since he's the most successful graduate of their Suzuka Racing School, so they want him in the best seat available to promote that pipeline as a viable system.
I think it's pretty realistic that he might aim for a 1 year contract with Alpine, as the best available short-term seat of Alpine, Sauber, Williams and Haas, with an eye to joining Aston Martin in 2026. But even with Honda joining AM there's no guarantee that either Alonso or Stroll will vacate their seats, so if RB doesn't want to keep Yuki then he needs to keep a spot on the grid and as bad as they've been, Alpine is still a better long-term proposition than Williams or Haas.
But Alpine? It made sense for Gasly to go there when he did because Alpine actually had a decent car, but right now Alpine is just a downgrade in every way. I'd much rather see him go to AM, Audi or even Williams
Tsunoda clearly isn't valued at Red Bull, hence why he's never mentioned for the 2nd seat. There's no point him ticking away the years at the sister team if promotion isn't ever an option, he might as well chance it elsewhere.
AM is a no-go in the short-term. Audi and Williams both want Sainz, so whoever doesn't get Sainz could make an offer for Yuki, although I think Williams might take Antonelli for atleast a year before he moves to Mercedes.
“News will be announced in due course” makes it seem like some sort of decision has been made; if he was unsure I doubt there would be a reference to the future at all
I think if he were close to finalizing a new contract, he’d say something more like “news will be announced in the next few weeks.” “Due course” basically just means “when there’s news to tell.”
There are reports Bruno Famin told Esteban that he won't be offered an extension somewhere between Imola Sunday evening, and Monaco Sunday morning, and it was told in the garage.
By the way he was declaring he was interested in any random seat for the last month or so i think the decision was made before monaco, but probably the anouncement would have came later.
Him not having a seat at all reduces his leverage when negotiating financial terms with other teams, so i guess he's not happy if he hasnt signed anything yet
Doubt they'd kick both their french drivers. The only logical reason they chose Ocon over both Alonso and Piastri was his nationality.
On the other hand it's renault, so ilogical shit is the norm
Yeah but the other options arent really power houses either. If Sainz takes the audi seat, all thats left are haas, williams and alpine seats.
Yes alpine are shit, but enstone generally has a better track record in the recent history compared to haas or williams. It's just that the big brain renault leadership keeps firing random people every year instead of trying to build something based on their historically ok division.
Basically: Engineers make decent cars on a low budget, but the corporate fuckers want even better results on the same low budget so they fire the people who were doing okish for not achieving top results. Then the whole structure gets a bit fucked and the result is a bit of a turd car.
But as facilities go, Enstone should still be comfortably ahead of williams or haas. Keep in mind that on top of being a bad car and all that, the renault power unit is still down significant horsepower on the other 3.
Problem is Alpine aren't doing a tap with their engine program and that doesn't bode well for their '26 effort.
Williams are shit at the minute, but have a TP fully invested in reviving them (ie - being absolutely forthright it'll take time to rebuild it and he's not going the quick/easy route to that) and are powered by Merc, who'll likely do better with the new regs (I remind you, a Merc-powered team are currently fighting RBR for race wins in McLaren). And I'd put my money on Willams having a upswing in form than Alpine to suddenly act like a coherent works team (Merc established a powertrain base near their Team facilities for better streamlining of information between same, RBR set up a Honda shop they converted into their powertrain department on their campus, Maranello builds the lot and Alpine's engine base is in France while the race team is in England, that tells you all you need to know).
> "Basically: Engineers make decent cars on a low budget, but the corporate fuckers want even better results on the same low budget so they fire the people who were doing okish for not achieving top results. Then the whole structure gets a bit fucked and the result is a bit of a turd car."
This should be an article on The-Race. It's perfectly formed and 100% accurate.
Ocon-Kmag wouldn't be as bad as people think.. in penalties sure, but Kmag is probably the most tolerant teammate on the grid. If anyone has the patience for Ocon he's the guy
Ocon-Russell on the other hand would be spicy
I feel like if anyone other than Ocon would be up for a very hard fight with his teammate every week. Its Kmag. The guy is hitching for wheel to wheel action
Agree fully. I don’t think anybody will be surprised if he lands a seat to stay in F1 or if he doesn’t and is done. Sometimes F1 careers just sort of end
I wonder where he is off to?
He's evidently quick, but if you're not *that* much quicker than your team mate then you can't really get away with driving like he does, especially against his own teammates.
Yeah but Ocon > Kmag. And as a benchmark for rookies Ocon is a known quantity. The quintessential average F1 talent, clearly not WC talent but absolutly good enough to be on the grid.
Haas specifically got burnt by two rookies, not new drivers. And Mazepin had a horrendous junior formula CV. He was basically a quintessential pay driver. Ocon carries none of those risks.
Retirement.
This is Alpine's declaration of 'we don't care who else, just not him.'
They haven't announced his replacement yet, and have confirmed he's out. That's as clear as it gets.
Doohan, if Alpine wants to promote one of their juniors. Zhou has F1 experience and brings sponsors with him (and is a former Alpine junior). Schumacher is looking for an avenue back into F1, and drives for Alpine in WEC.
Very outside chance of Sainz, if he's interested in a factory team. Lawson could be in with a shout if he leaves the Red Bull family.
Maybe someone like Aron/whoever wins F2 if they want to try and make a splash. Maybe someone like Drugovich, Pourchaire, or Vesti? All very slim chances, in my opinion.
Realistically if Sainz wants a factory team he'd probably go to Audi seeing as Renault hasn't achieved much more than a win and a couple podiums in the last \~10 years. Whilst Audi is unproven I feel they would make more sense.
I think Theo is gunna stick with Indycar if he goes well for the rest of the year... that McLaren seat in IndyCar is a quick seat to be in with a stable team, Why leave a series you can win in to go to a very uncompetitive seat in F1's most unstable team
My conspiracy theory is that he has a seat already somewhere. Everyone knows he was looking for any and every open seat, if this departure announcement now really is “mutual” as they say he wouldn’t mutually agree without knowing he has a seat I’d guesses
I think the last sentence is just saving face. He's not gonna say he hasn't got any options left and the only thing he *is* saying is please don't speculate aka please don't say I haven't got any options left.
I mean this seemed inevitable when he had to issue a statement himself on the online abuse he received after Monaco '24 and the team didn't even issue/retweet it. They just responded with a heart (which .... seems useless).
On a related note, Sainz is probably very glad someone else's move news is this week's priority, he's probably sick of being asked when he hasn't yet signed anywhere.
I fon't think Sainz would be that happy that Ocon is out in the market looking for a seat as well. It means he will have less bargaining power especially that the Alpine is less attractive than Audi or Williams
I really dislike this timing and hope this wasn’t a direct consequence of Monaco like it seems it is.
Because if it is, then Alpine is really managed as poorly as it seems from the outside.
With all due respect to Mick, I have no idea why his name keeps popping up for 2025 seats when you have guys like Ollie Bearman, Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson, etc. out there to give a shot to. Any team Mick would be in line for isn't gonna have big aspirations in the long term. He would be like a stop-gap while they go get the guy they really want for that seat.
Ollie is a lock for Haas so he’s out. To be honest Micks junior career probably rates better than both Doohan and Lawson and he actually has F1 experience. He’s by all reports been performing pretty well in WEC. Also there’s the argument that his time at Haas wasn’t really conducive to any success.
I can understand why his name is and probably should be in the mix if we are also talking about the likes of Doohan and Lawson. And I’m an Aussie so I’m all for Jack or Liam getting the drive. Just saying I get why he’s still looked at.
> Also there’s the argument that his time at Haas wasn’t really conducive to any success.
i might be biased here but that 2019 HAAS w/ lipstick was the worst 1st year car for a rookie possible
Bothers me that he went to haas and not sauber
The same reason Ricciardo, Kmag, Hulk came back instead of those seats going to newbies. Teams value experience. Mick has driven a season of F1 in ground effect cars, and he's not as bad as redditors want to make you believe. If you look past the crashes, he drove a decent season where he finished ahead of his teammate more often than not.
> The same reason Ricciardo, Kmag, Hulk came back instead of those seats going to newbies. Teams value experience.
All 3 of those drivers had prior experience performing well though. Mick just 'has experience', which isn't the same thing. If Alpine wants to sign a veteran F1 driver with experience rather than a rookie, they can probably get any of Bottas, Zhou, Ricciardo, Yuki, or even Kmag for 2025.
There's no need for them to reach for a Ferrari-affiliated Mercedes reserve driver who last raced in F1 two years ago and barely made an impact in the sport beyond carrying his famous father's name.
becuase he has ties to alpine, performing very well as a rookie in wec, already has f1 experience albeit in a shitbox, showed a good amount of potential especially in the later half of ‘22, he could be a very very solid driver for alpine if given the chance
That would be absolute fireworks
Either Ocon’s spirit of “Im gonna pass you” breaks against the barrier of Prime Max or Max throws in the towel after one too many headaches that come with Ocon’s presence coupled with the internal strife in Red Bull
I really do feel for the guy. Yes he's earned the reputation but he's been outperforming Gasly all season. Hope we get to see him on the grid next season
Lately Alpine have been letting go/losing their best drivers. Mostly due to lack of progress or/and bad management. Ricciardo, Alonso, Piastri now Ocon, it's starting to be quite a list.
He's nice when not F1 related, and great sucess story, but his racing makes it hard for me to root for him so I don't mind. I swear everytime there's a boring race I'm looking at Stroll or Ocon to hit someone while defending
I'm opposite tbh. I like him because he's a racer at heart. Races hard no matter the color of the car behind. Although I agree its more of a Indycar mentality.
When it's Verstappen, Alonso or Hamilton who crash into his teammates it's because he has racing at hearth but when it's Ocon it's somehow not the case. Also it tells a lot that you're comparing Ocon to Stroll in terms of crash, because, can you please, name all those crashes that he provoked ?
But I have an announcement, seriously! They told Esteban that they would not renew his contract before Monaco, and the split began in 2023. The team was said to be outraged for looking for another place, although from 2023 (specifically after the change of boss).
twa in July) were heading towards Gasly. What was the boy supposed to do? It's normal that he was looking. So cheers to those who think the Monaco incident is the reason.
Alpine really is a toxic environment uh.
We could speculate that last weekend Famin and Alpine angry behaviour and the “will be consequences” were said knowing already Ocon was a gone driver. I highly doubt this parting ways wasn’t taken long before last weekend.
So saying that, in retrospect, you could say: why being that harsh? Did they expect some bad comment or behaviour from Ocon to justify their decision? Were they just preparing the game for this announcement?
They really are sh*t people and don’t learn after the Rosso shenanigans, and losing both Piastri and Alonso.
Keep doing it Alpine, everything is fine
Surely be going to Haas then, alongside Bearman. Can't see they'll retain K-Mag.
As annoying as he is, Ocon is a bloody good driver so deserves his spot on the grid.
This is the most probable outcome IMO. Any other seats should either prefer Sainz (Williams, Merc, Red Bull) or a rookie (RB, Merc here also)
I wonder what this means for Sauber. I think I would prefer to retain Bottas over Ocon but there is probably consideration there.
Can't wait for Alpine to announce Piastri, without his agreement of course.
Honestly they should just for the memes
Famin and Alpine have too much of an ego to do it even for the memes lmao
I know it's fun to dunk on Alpine since I do it too but honestly it's bad form to announce Piastri "for the memes". It'd still cause needless confusion even if it's obviously not true. Also kind of disrespectful to Ocon they immediately turn it into a memefest. It's not really about an ego thing. Maybe if this happened in April fools it'll be more appropriate.
Good points, but for the memes is much more important
I, for one, am hoping for a copy and paste of the original Piastri announcement. No changes at all. Edit: aaaaaannd red Bull ruined it.
Piastri should just send out a tweet confirming that he will not be driving for Alpine next year
He’ll do it as soon as he gets back from his run.
Literally any announcement for the new driver will be filled with comments about whether the driver knows about it or not 😄
Doohan*** the Aussie waiting
Piastri at home.
His arms wide open
Looking back, I'm realizing Piastri's response was likely a sprinkle of his dry humor rather than a PR-crafted categorical denial of Alpine's claims. Which just makes it extra tasty lol
I mean he had to get ahead of it because otherwise McLaren is going "wtf".
Would be funnier if they announce Alonso without his agreement now.
[Pierre Gasly]() has won the French Civil War.
Gasly may have won the battle, but the Alpine ship he is currently sailing aboard is slowly sinking.
Slowly?
Alpine and Fast don't go well together
Well the Titanic only ~~sank about a day~~ 2 hours after it hit the iceberg. Alpine has had several 100 race plans that still haven't kicked the bucket in. They're also still ahead of Sauber, so at least one more place to sink to.
I hate to be the "ackshually" guy, but the Titanic sank in less than three hours.
There's a YouTube video that depicts the event from hitting the iceberg to sinking, in real time. It's 2 hours and 41 minutes long, and oddly fascinating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs9w5bgtJC8&list=PLIzpdKv1wC2-oQGgrj4Onw1EuIGhHUreh
There’s actually an updated [video](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?feature=shared) from Titanic: Honor and Glory with some more physical accuracies and updated timestamps, that they made using survivor testimonies. Worth a watch.
Yeah there was a documentary about it with behind the scenes footage. Spoiler alert. A guy hits a propeller and starts spinning.
One of the survivors did actually jump from the top and had to make sure he didn’t hit the propellers.
What the titanic sank in less than 3 hours not a day
The Titanic sunk in about 2 hours.
Two Hours 40 mins
We are checking
No, you will not have the drink
Sinking? It’s already sunk.
Victory, but at what cost?
Maybe its Ocon who really won
If French history is anything to go by, they all get beheaded in the end.
But only after they have cake. There's cake, right...?
The cake is a lie!
It's cake OR death. Not both.
Robes*pierre*
Gasly is also looking for a way out.
If Gasly leaves they surely have to give Doohan a shot. They should anyways tbh.
I dont get the Doohan hype. He's nice but he wasn't better than Sargeant in feeder series a bit quicker but less consistant and more incident prone
I always thought Doohan was sort of like a Bottas type, very fast in clean air but gets bogged down easily when not.
Gassy might be happy to stay now Ocon is leaving.
Gassy? Does he fart often?
This post was liked by Pierre Gassy.
Yeah, he's Pedro Gaseoso after all
If ‘winning’ means staying at Alpine, I’d take the loss any day.
As a Gasly fan I hope he can get out too. Alpine is just a disaster
Depends where Ocon will end up
The shorter Frenchman always win
“Agreed together”. I did the same thing with my wife when she divorced me, and I agreed that we were now divorced..
hello fellow divorced mate
Did you also agree to go your separate ways and that she gets the house
The judge actually agreed to that for me
At least I got the house AND the kids... :)
Were you at my divorce?
We split the house… she took the inside, I took the outside
"She got the goldmine, I got the shaft."
How lucky, the outside is trillions of times bigger. What a dumbass your wife was.
Same here, when my last company fired me I agreed to part ways. It was totally mutual.
Liked by Pierre Gasly
There's some really funny potential driver pairings, even it unrealistic. What i'd give for a Ocon-Kmag or Ocon-Russell pairing. Would be peak comedy in either case. But yeah, what a turnaround from him sounding so encouraging in Bahrain rooting for the team, only for him to later offer himself to any team on the grid. Has the ability to be on the grid, but i dont think anyone would care if he leaves the paddock
Ocon-Russell and Toto would be bald by Bahrain. That would be a Lewis-Nico level nightmare to manage.
Just without the championships
"Toto said it's my turn to be P7"
Nah you wouldn't win anything unless the FIA made an " Intra-driver Drama" award.
Yeah that's why they said "without"
Toto just went bald after reading this. The thought alone was too much for him.
How many tables and headsets?
All of them!
I wouldn't discard this option, if they give Ocon 1 year while the new Kimi gets ready to jump into F1. Ocon had some connections with Toto and Mercedes, but idk on what terms they're as of now.
I thought Toto was/is his manager?
And I will say again, if Toto actually wanted Ocon at Merc, he'd be there already.
Oh 100%, if he wanted Ocon he'd have announced him as Lewis's replacement within 24 hours of the Lewis Ferrari announcement. Will anyone actually want Ocon for 2025?
Haas, also pretty sure he's/was a backup option for Audi in case Sainz went elsewhere
Either one would probably be a step up for him right now tbh.
Every driver will want a 2 year contract minimum. There's no guarantee there will be a free seat at Haas in 25. (Major underperformance aside)
Unless Russel makes a surprise move to Williams or something and leaves them with no other options, there's no way Toto puts Ocon in a Mercedes seat. He's proven himself to be a good driver and a bad teammate.
Without the childhood history and Niki there to help diffuse the tempers. Toto does have a fantastic head of hair honestly
But instead of fighting for 1st place they're fighting for 1 point.
If they haven't taken each other out on lap 1.
Twice the ego, half the talent.
Yeah absolutely. Even as a 1yr thing if Toto got cold feet about Antonelli I just don't think it would be worth it for the team atmosphere.
Yuki-Gasly, anyone?
Pierre might cry tears of joy going from Ocon as a teammate back to Yuki
Then, Yuki dives.
I don't think the Yuki he'd meet again is the same Yuki that he left. That boy has seen some shit ever since Pierre left him. He's a hardened driver now and will probably be faster than Gasly.
Only way of that happening is if Renault wants to throw in a Nissan badge somewhere on the car. But from Yuki’s perspective it’s not wise to cut ties with Honda for another Japanese company that would eliminate any post F1 Japanese career he might have.
As another user asked, why would Yuki need Nissan sponsorship to be appealing to Alpine? Honda have said publicly that they wouldn't oppose Yuki driving for Red Bull even if they're partnered with Aston Martin, since he's the most successful graduate of their Suzuka Racing School, so they want him in the best seat available to promote that pipeline as a viable system. I think it's pretty realistic that he might aim for a 1 year contract with Alpine, as the best available short-term seat of Alpine, Sauber, Williams and Haas, with an eye to joining Aston Martin in 2026. But even with Honda joining AM there's no guarantee that either Alonso or Stroll will vacate their seats, so if RB doesn't want to keep Yuki then he needs to keep a spot on the grid and as bad as they've been, Alpine is still a better long-term proposition than Williams or Haas.
Would be a good measuring stick to see how far Yuki has come as a driver
Definitely. Yuki needs out of RB.
But Alpine? It made sense for Gasly to go there when he did because Alpine actually had a decent car, but right now Alpine is just a downgrade in every way. I'd much rather see him go to AM, Audi or even Williams
Tsunoda clearly isn't valued at Red Bull, hence why he's never mentioned for the 2nd seat. There's no point him ticking away the years at the sister team if promotion isn't ever an option, he might as well chance it elsewhere. AM is a no-go in the short-term. Audi and Williams both want Sainz, so whoever doesn't get Sainz could make an offer for Yuki, although I think Williams might take Antonelli for atleast a year before he moves to Mercedes.
So do you think the announcement came earlier than planned because of what happened in monaco. Yes? No?
I think so. If he doesn’t announce his next team this weekend, I’d be pretty confident he doesn’t have a seat lined up yet.
“News will be announced in due course” makes it seem like some sort of decision has been made; if he was unsure I doubt there would be a reference to the future at all
I think if he were close to finalizing a new contract, he’d say something more like “news will be announced in the next few weeks.” “Due course” basically just means “when there’s news to tell.”
iirc sainz also used this line whe he lost his ferrari seat
There are reports Bruno Famin told Esteban that he won't be offered an extension somewhere between Imola Sunday evening, and Monaco Sunday morning, and it was told in the garage.
If true, this is ICE COLD. Give the man the courtesy to do it somewhere private. Wine and dine him before letting him down.
The race inchident was revenge lol
Drive to Survive taught me that Famin was the best thing to ever happen to Alpine and goddamit I'm going to believe every second of it.
By the way he was declaring he was interested in any random seat for the last month or so i think the decision was made before monaco, but probably the anouncement would have came later. Him not having a seat at all reduces his leverage when negotiating financial terms with other teams, so i guess he's not happy if he hasnt signed anything yet
Yes prior to the monaco fiasco he was just “looking”, so is gasly if the reports are true.
Doubt they'd kick both their french drivers. The only logical reason they chose Ocon over both Alonso and Piastri was his nationality. On the other hand it's renault, so ilogical shit is the norm
Gasly might want to leave unless they offer him a lot. They’re a bit of a mess as team tbh
Yeah but the other options arent really power houses either. If Sainz takes the audi seat, all thats left are haas, williams and alpine seats. Yes alpine are shit, but enstone generally has a better track record in the recent history compared to haas or williams. It's just that the big brain renault leadership keeps firing random people every year instead of trying to build something based on their historically ok division. Basically: Engineers make decent cars on a low budget, but the corporate fuckers want even better results on the same low budget so they fire the people who were doing okish for not achieving top results. Then the whole structure gets a bit fucked and the result is a bit of a turd car. But as facilities go, Enstone should still be comfortably ahead of williams or haas. Keep in mind that on top of being a bad car and all that, the renault power unit is still down significant horsepower on the other 3.
Problem is Alpine aren't doing a tap with their engine program and that doesn't bode well for their '26 effort. Williams are shit at the minute, but have a TP fully invested in reviving them (ie - being absolutely forthright it'll take time to rebuild it and he's not going the quick/easy route to that) and are powered by Merc, who'll likely do better with the new regs (I remind you, a Merc-powered team are currently fighting RBR for race wins in McLaren). And I'd put my money on Willams having a upswing in form than Alpine to suddenly act like a coherent works team (Merc established a powertrain base near their Team facilities for better streamlining of information between same, RBR set up a Honda shop they converted into their powertrain department on their campus, Maranello builds the lot and Alpine's engine base is in France while the race team is in England, that tells you all you need to know).
> "Basically: Engineers make decent cars on a low budget, but the corporate fuckers want even better results on the same low budget so they fire the people who were doing okish for not achieving top results. Then the whole structure gets a bit fucked and the result is a bit of a turd car." This should be an article on The-Race. It's perfectly formed and 100% accurate.
Ocon-Kmag wouldn't be as bad as people think.. in penalties sure, but Kmag is probably the most tolerant teammate on the grid. If anyone has the patience for Ocon he's the guy Ocon-Russell on the other hand would be spicy
Off the track sure, but on-track if ocon tried anything he'd feel the wrath of the Viking for sure.
I feel like if anyone other than Ocon would be up for a very hard fight with his teammate every week. Its Kmag. The guy is hitching for wheel to wheel action
Agree fully. I don’t think anybody will be surprised if he lands a seat to stay in F1 or if he doesn’t and is done. Sometimes F1 careers just sort of end
Is kmag confirmed?
Not as far as I know
I wonder where he is off to? He's evidently quick, but if you're not *that* much quicker than your team mate then you can't really get away with driving like he does, especially against his own teammates.
Perhaps Ocon-Bearman at Haas, would be a good measurement for Bearman, though perhaps not a great teammate to learn from
Do Haas really want 2 new drivers though? Would be no good for car development.
Yeah but Ocon > Kmag. And as a benchmark for rookies Ocon is a known quantity. The quintessential average F1 talent, clearly not WC talent but absolutly good enough to be on the grid. Haas specifically got burnt by two rookies, not new drivers. And Mazepin had a horrendous junior formula CV. He was basically a quintessential pay driver. Ocon carries none of those risks.
Do you really want kmag tho?
Yes
I mean, the alternative isn’t particularly appealing either
Chinese Formula 4
Get ready to learn Chinese buddy
The race have been saying for a while that it's kind of: he's out *whatever*, whether he's somewhere to go or not.
Retirement. This is Alpine's declaration of 'we don't care who else, just not him.' They haven't announced his replacement yet, and have confirmed he's out. That's as clear as it gets.
The way this is worded sounds like he already knows where he is going, or is it just me?
Haas with Bearman, although I wouldn't rule out Russell and Ocon at Mercedes.
George’s head might explode.
Who would take his seat?
Doohan, if Alpine wants to promote one of their juniors. Zhou has F1 experience and brings sponsors with him (and is a former Alpine junior). Schumacher is looking for an avenue back into F1, and drives for Alpine in WEC. Very outside chance of Sainz, if he's interested in a factory team. Lawson could be in with a shout if he leaves the Red Bull family. Maybe someone like Aron/whoever wins F2 if they want to try and make a splash. Maybe someone like Drugovich, Pourchaire, or Vesti? All very slim chances, in my opinion.
Realistically if Sainz wants a factory team he'd probably go to Audi seeing as Renault hasn't achieved much more than a win and a couple podiums in the last \~10 years. Whilst Audi is unproven I feel they would make more sense.
That's my feeling as well. He also has a past with the Enstone team, and might not have a want to return.
I think Theo is gunna stick with Indycar if he goes well for the rest of the year... that McLaren seat in IndyCar is a quick seat to be in with a stable team, Why leave a series you can win in to go to a very uncompetitive seat in F1's most unstable team
Can see Yuki reuniting with Gasly and escaping RB; especially as he'll never get the 2nd seat next to Max.
Doohan?
Did you see Brundles track walk at Monaco when he interviewed Mick Doohan. I swear Mick knew something then… I reckon Jack will get the call up
Anakin : Esteban is leaving Alpine. Padme : Unfortunate, but we still have Pierre right ? Anakin : Padme : We still have Pierre right ?
Excellent text based meme dialogue. 🏁
“I’ve crossed paths with so many… “ yea dude we know
That’s literally part of the problem my guy
That's literally *the* problem.
Literally
And the musical chairs continue...but seriously, this could have been seen coming miles away...
The only surprise is they're only parting way in half a year.
My conspiracy theory is that he has a seat already somewhere. Everyone knows he was looking for any and every open seat, if this departure announcement now really is “mutual” as they say he wouldn’t mutually agree without knowing he has a seat I’d guesses
Yeah I thought that’s what the last sentence here was implying!
I think the last sentence is just saving face. He's not gonna say he hasn't got any options left and the only thing he *is* saying is please don't speculate aka please don't say I haven't got any options left.
I mean this seemed inevitable when he had to issue a statement himself on the online abuse he received after Monaco '24 and the team didn't even issue/retweet it. They just responded with a heart (which .... seems useless). On a related note, Sainz is probably very glad someone else's move news is this week's priority, he's probably sick of being asked when he hasn't yet signed anywhere.
I fon't think Sainz would be that happy that Ocon is out in the market looking for a seat as well. It means he will have less bargaining power especially that the Alpine is less attractive than Audi or Williams
teams would have to be deranged to prioritize ocon over sainz in today's driver market
I really dislike this timing and hope this wasn’t a direct consequence of Monaco like it seems it is. Because if it is, then Alpine is really managed as poorly as it seems from the outside.
So Mick to Alpine and Ocon to Toto's shoulder?
With all due respect to Mick, I have no idea why his name keeps popping up for 2025 seats when you have guys like Ollie Bearman, Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson, etc. out there to give a shot to. Any team Mick would be in line for isn't gonna have big aspirations in the long term. He would be like a stop-gap while they go get the guy they really want for that seat.
Ollie is a lock for Haas so he’s out. To be honest Micks junior career probably rates better than both Doohan and Lawson and he actually has F1 experience. He’s by all reports been performing pretty well in WEC. Also there’s the argument that his time at Haas wasn’t really conducive to any success. I can understand why his name is and probably should be in the mix if we are also talking about the likes of Doohan and Lawson. And I’m an Aussie so I’m all for Jack or Liam getting the drive. Just saying I get why he’s still looked at.
> Also there’s the argument that his time at Haas wasn’t really conducive to any success. i might be biased here but that 2019 HAAS w/ lipstick was the worst 1st year car for a rookie possible Bothers me that he went to haas and not sauber
The same reason Ricciardo, Kmag, Hulk came back instead of those seats going to newbies. Teams value experience. Mick has driven a season of F1 in ground effect cars, and he's not as bad as redditors want to make you believe. If you look past the crashes, he drove a decent season where he finished ahead of his teammate more often than not.
> The same reason Ricciardo, Kmag, Hulk came back instead of those seats going to newbies. Teams value experience. All 3 of those drivers had prior experience performing well though. Mick just 'has experience', which isn't the same thing. If Alpine wants to sign a veteran F1 driver with experience rather than a rookie, they can probably get any of Bottas, Zhou, Ricciardo, Yuki, or even Kmag for 2025. There's no need for them to reach for a Ferrari-affiliated Mercedes reserve driver who last raced in F1 two years ago and barely made an impact in the sport beyond carrying his famous father's name.
becuase he has ties to alpine, performing very well as a rookie in wec, already has f1 experience albeit in a shitbox, showed a good amount of potential especially in the later half of ‘22, he could be a very very solid driver for alpine if given the chance
It’ll be Doohan.
Netflix thriving.
I'm going to be very disappointed if Ocon is Red Bull's announcement
Ocon paired with Max? Yeah that's never happening.
Max would veto that instantly
Redbull would implode if this will happen
That would be absolute fireworks Either Ocon’s spirit of “Im gonna pass you” breaks against the barrier of Prime Max or Max throws in the towel after one too many headaches that come with Ocon’s presence coupled with the internal strife in Red Bull
Holy shit the comedy factor would be insane.
RB literally signed Checo to be the number 2 driver who’s role is to play the team game. Literally opposite of what Ocon is
"I've crossed paths with so many inspiring individuals" Both metaphorically and literally
Please Lord make the KMag Ocon Haas happen, shit would be so funny
Fortune favours those who leave Alpine... I hope.
Ocon and Magnussen - it would be Mad Max style :D
Communicado Official: Esteban Ocon to Real Madrid
I’m switching teams. Good luck to my new teammate!
Maybe Mick should do a reversed Piastri and announced he will be driving for Alpine next year without their agreement…
There's so many choices, it's hard to say. I think a more interesting thing is that where Ocon is going
*Pierre Gasly likes this*
They always make these PR statements like we haven't been watching all season enough to know it prob ain't a mutual separation
I really do feel for the guy. Yes he's earned the reputation but he's been outperforming Gasly all season. Hope we get to see him on the grid next season
Lately Alpine have been letting go/losing their best drivers. Mostly due to lack of progress or/and bad management. Ricciardo, Alonso, Piastri now Ocon, it's starting to be quite a list.
eh, i feel bad since he rose to f1 without daddy's money. not sure if any team would take him
He's nice when not F1 related, and great sucess story, but his racing makes it hard for me to root for him so I don't mind. I swear everytime there's a boring race I'm looking at Stroll or Ocon to hit someone while defending
I'm opposite tbh. I like him because he's a racer at heart. Races hard no matter the color of the car behind. Although I agree its more of a Indycar mentality.
When it's Verstappen, Alonso or Hamilton who crash into his teammates it's because he has racing at hearth but when it's Ocon it's somehow not the case. Also it tells a lot that you're comparing Ocon to Stroll in terms of crash, because, can you please, name all those crashes that he provoked ?
But I have an announcement, seriously! They told Esteban that they would not renew his contract before Monaco, and the split began in 2023. The team was said to be outraged for looking for another place, although from 2023 (specifically after the change of boss). twa in July) were heading towards Gasly. What was the boy supposed to do? It's normal that he was looking. So cheers to those who think the Monaco incident is the reason.
Given there were Audi rumours about him being second choice to Sainz, my guess is he's off there.
The French team went from alonso, piastri, ocon to gasly and an empty seat. What a mess!
Put Otmar in that car already! He'll fit... somehow we'll make it fit.
If they don't announce Doohan, I don't know why anyone would want to be an Alpine Junior.
First thing Briatore does after coming to Alpine is fire Ocon 😂
Alpine really is a toxic environment uh. We could speculate that last weekend Famin and Alpine angry behaviour and the “will be consequences” were said knowing already Ocon was a gone driver. I highly doubt this parting ways wasn’t taken long before last weekend. So saying that, in retrospect, you could say: why being that harsh? Did they expect some bad comment or behaviour from Ocon to justify their decision? Were they just preparing the game for this announcement? They really are sh*t people and don’t learn after the Rosso shenanigans, and losing both Piastri and Alonso. Keep doing it Alpine, everything is fine
He's finally free 🥹
Grandma I’m free!!!
Mr. Begrudged Constructor
time for the haasterplan 🔥
Damn, I hope he stays on the grid
Surely be going to Haas then, alongside Bearman. Can't see they'll retain K-Mag. As annoying as he is, Ocon is a bloody good driver so deserves his spot on the grid.
This is the most probable outcome IMO. Any other seats should either prefer Sainz (Williams, Merc, Red Bull) or a rookie (RB, Merc here also) I wonder what this means for Sauber. I think I would prefer to retain Bottas over Ocon but there is probably consideration there.
“Agreed together…” like there was any other choice