Though rumours had circulated that this would be the case following the Qatar Grand Prix, it was made official this morning in a statement from Alpine, which read: “Jack Doohan will race in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in place of Esteban Ocon.”
The agreement to end Ocon’s contract early appears to have been mutual, as it allows Ocon to drive in the post-season test for Haas, whom he’ll drive for in 2025. For Alpine, bringing in their reserve driver and official 2025 driver, Jack Doohan, early allows him to participate in the end-of-season test for the team.
Teams releasing their outgoing drivers to conduct the post-season test for their new teams is not unusual but is typically more a gesture of goodwill rather than an expectation, as most drivers’ contracts with their current teams won’t end until the end of the calendar year.
For instance, Carlos Sainz has been permitted to participate in the test for Williams by Ferrari, ahead of his debut with the team next season. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton has not been allowed to test the Ferrari due to having Mercedes sponsor commitments.
Esteban was Alpine’s longest serving driver, having completed 89 grands prix for the team since their rebranding to Alpine in 2021. He’s also their only race winner in their Alpine guise, having taken victory at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix.
But his season has not been easy, with rumours circulating following a collision with Gasly in Monaco that he would be replaced by the next race in Canada. This speculation, of course, didn’t come to fruition, but there’s no doubt that it would have fueled some frustration from either side – not helped by frustrations on the technical side, as the car was underpowered and overweight for much of the first part of the year.
This extends to a tough run of luck in recent races – aside from a podium in Sao Paulo, Ocon hasn’t finished in the top ten since the Belgian Grand Prix, with his last race for Alpine in Qatar ending in a DNF following an opening lap collision with Colapinto and Hulkenberg.
On the other side of the garage, his teammate Pierre Gasly has had four points finishes since Spa, including a haul of ten points in Qatar.
Speaking after the Qatar Grand Prix, though the news was not yet official, Ocon thanked the team for their hard work over the year even in the face of these challenges.
“I would like to thank the team for their hard work over this race and their hard work over the whole year,” he said.
“When it’s going well, it’s good to stick together. But when it’s not going so well the engineers and mechanics stick together and that’s the most important thing.”
Despite these difficulties in recent times, this early departure has come from a “natural evolution” following on from Ocon’s announcement of a team switch into next year, according to Alpine’s team principal, Oliver Oakes.
“I think really the bigger part is sort of a natural evolution really of he’s moving on, does it suit both of us to do that just a bit earlier for the last round or not?”
With this news comes a chance at an early debut for Alpine’s incoming driver and current reserve, Jack Doohan, and the chance for him to get familiar with the team over a grand prix weekend as a full-time driver. Speaking to this, Oakes said, “it’s advantageous to get Jack in the team working with everybody and get those butterflies gone now rather than next year in Australia.”
Alpine are currently embroiled in a close battle for P6 in the Constructors’, strangely against Haas, which could place pressure on Doohan’s shoulders in Abu Dhabi. But his team principal feels he will be able to deal with this: “I think he’s professional enough to handle it. I think as well, once you ease into the weekend with FP1 and FP2, you can build up to it as well.”
It was also announced last weekend that as Doohan steps up to the full-time race seat, F2 driver Paul Aron will take his place as Alpine’s reserve driver from 2025.
