Full Esteban Ocon radio transcript uncovered after team order row in Canada
Esteban Ocon was frustrated with Alpine’s team orders
Esteban Ocon issued a sarcastic “amazing” to his race engineer Josh Peckett after being informed Pierre Gasly would not give him back P9 on the final lap of the Canadian Grand Prix.
A transcript of his radio conversation with his race engineer laid bare the Frenchman’s frustration over the situation.
Esteban Ocon: I’ve done what I had to do…
Overtaken by Daniel Ricciardo late in Sunday’s thriller in Montreal, Esteban Ocon had his team-mate Gasly close up on his rear wing and was told by Alpine to let him through to see if Gasly could chase down Ricciardo.
After initially refusing the team order, “forget it”, Ocon moved over with the expectation that Gasly would give the position back if he couldn’t take eighth off the RB driver.
He didn’t, and he also didn’t give P9 back to Ocon.
The Alpine team-mate head-to-head stats
F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates
F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
The following transcript shows Ocon’s frustrations come to the surface.
The full team order transcript
Engineer: Esteban, we have to let Pierre through, please. Gap behind him two seconds to Hulkenberg.
Ocon: What’s the reason?
Engineer: We need to try and attack Ricciardo.
Ocon: Yeah, forget it!
Engineer: Okay, that is a request. Got three laps to go.
Ocon: Are you giving the place back after or not?
Engineer: That’s what I’m working on.
Ocon: Okay, I let him by. Understood.
Ocon let Gasly through at Turn 8 on lap 69 of the 70-lap Grand Prix.
Engineer: Esteban, the cars are not swapping places. Push to the end, please.
Ocon: Yeah, amazing. Thank you, amazing. Thank you
Engineer: OK, radio is still on.
Ocon: OK, mate. Yeah, yeah, you’re good. OK. Yeah, OK. No comments. Too nice. Too nice. OK, mate.
Engineer: OK, listen. We still came 10th. We’ve still got a point, OK? It’s a long way to go yet. OK, I know, I know, I know. I know it’s frustrating.
Ocon: I’ve done what I had to do, which is the most important, but you guys didn’t do what you had to do. That’s it.
Engineer: What I’ll say is we came P10 and we started right at the back with very little hope of getting anything out of this. And most of that is down to the fact that you drove very well and kept a cool head through difficult conditions. So you should be very pleased with yourself for that. And thank you for doing that as well.
Ocon: Thank you. Yeah, happy to be working with you guys too, Dave and Josh. Very happy.
Ocon: Thanks for supporting. Thanks for supporting.
Engineer: Sorry mate, long way to go. Another 15 races, yeah.
Speaking to the media after the race, Ocon reiterated that he’d been the “nice guy” only for that to blow up for him.
“I think today I’ve done my part of the job,” he said. “but I don’t think the team did their part of the job.
“I’ve been a team player and I’ve always respected the instructions that I’ve been given, always – it’s always been the case and I showed it once more today.
“But the nice guy doesn’t always pay off in Formula One and that is bothering me a lot.”
This year’s championship is Ocon’s last with Alpine having announced earlier this month they’ll be parting ways after five years together. The Frenchman has been linked to Haas.
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