Alpine ‘didn’t want Esteban Ocon around’ as alarming F1 2025 replacement claim made

Esteban Ocon is looking ahead to a future with Haas ahead of his departure from Alpine

Guenther Steiner believes the presence of Esteban Ocon turned into such a “headache” that Alpine decided “we don’t want him around”, though he sees no remaining replacement option at that level.

Ocon will leave Alpine at the end of F1 2024 having first joined the team in 2020 and will head for Haas – the outfit where Steiner formerly served as team boss – to partner Oliver Bearman in an all-new Haas driver line-up.

Guenther Steiner warns Alpine no equal Esteban Ocon replacement

In the aftermath of Ocon’s Alpine exit confirmation, Sky F1 lead commentator David Croft suggested there was an “air of tension” between driver and team, that extending to Ocon and team-mate Pierre Gasly, with then team boss Bruno Famin left enraged after the duo collided in Monaco.

And Steiner believes that Alpine ultimately decided enough is enough with their Ocon alliance.

“I think it turned into such a headache that they said, ‘it’s better a painful end than never-ending pain’,” said Steiner on The Red Flags Podcast.

“‘We’ll deal with the consequences of him leaving, but we don’t want him around’. I think it ended up like this. It’s just too much.

“And when you’re in a team and you have got always the same problem that you cannot fix it after years, it’s like, ‘we need to do something different here’, otherwise you just kick the can down the road. It will come back.”

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Alpine now has the task of finding Ocon’s replacement, with current reserve driver Jack Doohan having emerged as the clear frontrunner for the seat.

However, Steiner believes Alpine are in a situation where no driver option available to them is as strong as Ocon.

“And not having a replacement as good as him, that is more important,” Steiner continued.

“If you’ve got two guys that can replace him that is one [thing], but every option out there now, I don’t think there is anybody at the level of him.”

Doohan – who finished P3 in the 2023 Formula 2 Championship standings – joined the Alpine Academy ranks back in 2022 and has since made six FP1 appearances for the team.

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