The “circle” Ocon needs at Haas after being ignored at Alpine

Esteban Ocon has lamented the lack of communication at the Alpine Formula 1 team and says he will do his utmost “to not miss any single detail” at Haas.

The Frenchman has spent the last four and a half seasons with the Enstone-based outfit, whose performance over that period of time stagnated then deteriorated. The team went from fourth in the 2022 constructors’ championship to its current eighth position with just 11 points scored – the squad’s worst record since the 2016 campaign, when Renault returned to F1 as a constructor.

With Alpine deciding to part ways for next season – the announcement coming in the wake of his Monaco collision with team-mate and rival Pierre Gasly, which Bruno Famin, then team principal, had warned there would be “consequences” for – Ocon will make the switch to Haas.

Ocon’s time at Alpine was marked by the outfit’s instability, especially at the management level, with the departures of 12 team leaders including four successive team principals and five technical chiefs.

He is particularly aggravated by a lack of communication within the squad, which he sees as the main cause of its current downfall.

Asked in an exclusive interview with Autosport whether he has any regrets about leaving Alpine, Ocon replies: “No, because I gave everything I had to this team.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine A524

Photo by: Alpine

“Regrets to a point where, you know, it’s not only me: it’s Daniel [Ricciardo], Fernando [Alonso], Pierre [Gasly], myself. All the drivers that have come through this team, we gave feedback to the team.

“Normally there is a circle where, from the drivers to the team, you give some information. Then you have technical [feedback] on either ‘yes, you guys are right, we need to be addressing that’ or ‘no, we can’t, because of this or that’. There hasn’t been any of that.

“The following year, you find out that some of the issues that you talked about haven’t been fixed and have been going the other way.

“I try to guide this team to the best I can, [but] we haven’t always been listened to. And this is why some of the issues still remain after five years in this team.

“There are new people now, inside the team, technically. I wish them the best, and I hope that this team can obviously succeed. But that circle was key from the start and hasn’t been put in place correctly for us to make a step – enough of the step for the future.”

This negative experience will, however, be invaluable for Ocon as he seeks to make the most of his new challenge at Haas, where he will be paired with rookie Oliver Bearman.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Asked whether he will take on the team leader role in the American squad given his team-mate’s lack of experience, Ocon nuances: “I don’t know if ‘the team leader’ is the right thing to say, but I will put commitment, efforts, dedication to not miss any single detail and to share everything that I believe is important to improve – but quickly.

“You need not wait a year for things to come in because things take time to develop, things take time to be created. And if you miss something for the first six months, well, it can be a year and six months until it comes to you.

“I’ve learned that now, that circle is key. And it has to happen. And I will make sure that once I say something I get [feedback] on it and I get an explanation – so we can open a debate. Because if you talk in the air, you know, it dissipates and it doesn’t go anywhere.”