Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Esteban Ocon

  • Laura Mueller becomes F1’s first female Race Engineer

    Haas have promoted Laura Mueller to the role of Race Engineer for new recruit Esteban con with Carine Cridelich set to join as Head of Strategy from rivals Racing Bulls as part of a wider strengthening of the structure.

    Haas finished seventh in the constructors’ championship last year, their best finish since 2018, and are looking to build on that this year with a new line-up that features race winner Ocon and Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman.

    Mueller headlines the raft of changes, earning promotion for her role as Performance Engineer to become the first full-time female to take on the high-profile position of Race Engineer.

    A race engineer is one of the most senior trackside roles for a team as they are the main link between a driver and the team, both on-track through radio communications, and off it in the pursuit of performance.

    She’s a pretty determined character. And then she’s very hardworking. Her work ethic is really, really good. She’s going to be Esteban’s Race Engineer. In terms of looking at it personality-wise, Esteban is a pretty determined character as well. So that side, I think the driving force, I think that personality matches pretty well. And then what she’s really good at is, when she sees a problem, she digs deep, and she doesn’t stop at the first answer. Some people, when they find the answer, first answer, they stop there. They think, ‘Oh, great, I found the solution, move on’. She has a good work ethic such that when she finds the first solution, she knows that there’s 10 things, now you’ve got new questions to answer. Her determination is the one that impresses me the most.
    Komatsu on the news.

  • Alpine confirm Doohan to race in Abu Dhabi

    Alpine have confirmed that Jack Doohan will be making his F1 race debut earlier than expected in the season closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the team releasing Esteban Ocon in a deal that allows the French driver to participate in the post-season test for new team Haas.

    It was confirmed back in June that Ocon would be departing the Enstone-based team after the 2024 season, bringing his five-year spell at the team to an end.
    News later followed that he would be switching to Haas for 2025, where he will be partnered by rookie Ollie Bearman.

    Alpine, meanwhile went on to confirm that reserve driver Doohan would become part of their line-up next season as teammate to the incumbent Pierre Gasly – but now the Australian is set to get his first taste of a Grand Prix sooner than thought.

    While this means that Ocon will not be a part of the 58 lap finale, he will still get to put in some mileage at the Yas Marina Circuit when he gets behind the wheel for Haas at the end of season test.

    It comes after Ocon faced a difficult weekend in Qatar, having lined up at the back of the grid before seeing his race end at the first corner following a Lap 1 collision with Hulkenberg and Colapinto.

    BWT Alpine Formula One Team announces that Reserve Driver Jack Doohan will race in the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in place of Esteban Ocon. The change allows Esteban to be released to Haas to drive in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi. Jack, who has already been announced as an official driver for the 2025 season alongside Pierre Gasly, will race with the #61 as his registered Reserve Driver number and will also participate in the end-of-season test for the team at the Yas Marina Circuit. The team would like to thank Esteban for his time at the team and he will remain part of the team’s history achieving the first win for Alpine in Formula 1. We wish Esteban the best for the future.
    Alpine’s Statement.

    I think it comes from all sides really. I guess you could say it’s good to get Jack in early, I think you could say from Esteban’s side it’s good to move on early. I think it suits everybody, so I think the discussion was quite natural really, and I think Esteban’s been a big part of this team as well and from both sides it suits each other.
    Oakes on whether the move was prompted by the team or Ocon’s camp.

  • Haas confirm Ocon for 2025

    Haas have signed Alpine’s Esteban Ocon on a multi-year contract to partner rookie Ollie Bearman in 2025.

    The team announced last week that Kevin Magnussen would be leaving at the end of the season, leaving a vacant seat that was widely believed to have been allocated to 27 year old Ocon.

    On Thursday in Belgium, ahead of the final race before the break and at the track where Ocon first made his F1 debut in 2016.
    Haas announced Ocon would become the first Grand Prix winner to race one of their cars since they entered the sport in 2016.

    Ocon has 146 career starts under his belt and has driven for Manor, Force India, Renault and Alpine – scoring 425 points in that period including three podiums, one of which was his maiden win in Hungary in 2021.

    The Frenchman has know Haas Team Principal, Ayao Komatsu a while, as the Japanese boss engineered Ocon in his first F1 test back in 2014, with Lotus (which now operates under the Alpine banner) at Valencia.

    I’m delighted we’ve secured Esteban Ocon’s services for Haas. I’ve obviously been aware of his talents for a long time and our personal history dates back to Esteban’s maiden run in a Formula 1 car – I was his race engineer that day with Lotus. He displayed his talents back then coming off the back of strong performances in the junior categories – he’d just won the 2014 European Formula 3 Championship. Esteban’s gone on to become an established talent in Formula 1 and of course a Grand Prix winner. The experience he brings, not just from his own talent base but also from working for a manufacturer team, will be advantageous to us in our growth as an organisation. It was vital we had a driver with experience in beside Oliver Bearman next year, but Esteban’s only 27 – he’s still young with a lot to prove as well. I think we have a hungry, dynamic driver pairing and I look forward to welcoming Esteban into Haas for 2025.
    Ayao Komatsu on the news.

    It was important to me that we have a driver with a known pedigree in Formula 1, and as a Grand Prix winner, Esteban undoubtedly fits that brief. Esteban’s proved himself in the teams he’s raced for as someone who’s continually in the mix and scoring points – it’s that continuity we’re keen to capitalise on as we look for increased performance gains on-track. We have a blend of youth and experience in our future driver line-up and I’m excited to see the results.
    Owner, Gene Haas on the news.

    I’ll be joining a very ambitious racing team, whose spirit, work ethic, and undeniable upward trajectory has really impressed me. I’d like to thank Gene Haas and Ayao Komatsu for their trust and support, and for our honest and fruitful discussions these last few months. On a more personal note, I’m very happy to be working with Ayao again, as he’s been a part of my debut when I first stepped into a Formula 1 car during my Lotus Junior days more than 10 years ago. Haas has exciting plans and clear targets for the future, and I’m very much looking forward to working with everyone in Kannapolis, Banbury and Maranello, and being part of this great project.
    Ocon on the news.

  • Ocon to leave Alpine

    Esteban Ocon and Alpine will be parting ways at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 season, ending a five-year relationship.

    Ocon first joined the Enstone-based team in 2020 where he went on to achieve his and Alpine’s first Grand Prix win when he triumphed in the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix..

    He picked up two further podiums – at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix and 2023 Monaco Grand Prix – and achieved a best year-end finish of eighth in 2022.

    However, Alpine boss Bruno Famin has been considering the options for his 2025 driver line-up in recent months and the French manufacturer has decided not to renew Ocon’s contract.

    Alpine have said they will announce their 2025 line-up in “due course” while Ocon who will be racing for Alpine for the remainder of the season – said he would confirm his future “soon”.

    The news comes after a difficult race weekend for Alpine in Monaco, when Ocon collided with Pierre Gasly on the first lap, earning him a five-place grid penalty for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.
    But sources say that the decision to part ways with Ocon was not a response to the Monaco clash as his future had been under discussion for a while, however naturally, such an incident did not help the situation.

    It’s been a significant period of my life to be racing at this team in Formula 1. While I’ve been here for five years as a full-time racing driver, my professional career started at Enstone back when I was a teenager, so it will always be a special place for me. We have had some great moments together, some tough moments as well, and I am certainly grateful to everyone at the team for these memorable times. I will announce my plans very soon but, in the meantime, my full focus is on delivering on track for this team and having a successful remainder of the season.
    Ocon on the news.

    We would like to firstly thank Esteban for his commitment to the team for the past five years. During his time, we have celebrated some fantastic moments together, the best of which coming at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix with a memorable race win. We still have 16 races to complete in 2024 together with a clear objective: to continue to work tirelessly as a team to push for the best on-track results. We wish Esteban the very best for the next chapter of his driving career when that moment comes.
    Bruno Famin, Team Principal.

  • A522

    A522

    Alpine are now the ninth team to launch their challenger for this season- the A522, in which they had a live show from Paris.

    The team secured their first victory under the Alpine banner, in Hungary last year when Esteban won. The same pairing as last year will continue, double world champion Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon. As well as this, they have Formula 2 Champion, Oscar Piastri fulfilling reserve duties.

    The French manufacturer, will be wanting to continue on with their climb up the grid after finishing sixth in the Constructors standings.

    Alpine is set to run a striking new livery that is predominantly blue that features pink highlights in a nod to their new title sponsor BWT, as well as this, they presented a ‘flipped’ the livery with pink becoming the most prominent colour. The special pink design will be used in the first two races of the year- Bahrain and Saudi Arabia before reverting back to the blue.

    “It’s with great pleasure that we launch our A522 to the world today, marking the next chapter in Alpine’s Formula 1 journey,” said Rossi. “We have a clear plan and vision in place at Alpine and we have some of the best people in the business to help drive us forward and realise our ambitions. Our team is stronger now and, we hope, future-proof.”

    Ocon said: “I’m very excited, of course, to not only see the A522 for the first time but to drive it for the first time this week. It’s always a privilege to drive a new Formula 1 car for the first time, as you know all the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes at both factories in Enstone and Viry from all of the many talented people working in the different departments there. That feeling and responsibility is truly unique and very special. I feel prepared, I feel ready physically, so let’s hit the track and see what we’ve got in our hands this year.”

    Alonso added: “It’s good to be back and I’ve been working hard to be ready for the new season. The build-up has been a long time coming after the rule change was delayed due to the pandemic. The car looks fantastic with the new regulations in place and I like the new livery. We have a new engine and we’re confident we had a good development in place for this new generation of car. We won’t know where everyone stands until Bahrain, but we’re excited to take the car for its first spin in testing this week. I hope the new regulations have worked and we get more exciting wheel to wheel racing this year.”

    My Opinion-

    We all knew the Alpine would have pink on it, as BWT are the title sponsor. But do I like it? I’m not actually sure as it is quite a lot which has changed from last year, but I do feel like it will grow on me once seeing it on track.

    But the car itself on the render pictures looks like a mixture between Ferrari and Aston Martin with the way they have designed, which could be a clever move but we will not know until it hits the track!

  • 21.02.22

    Alpine have announced their launch date for the A522, with it being on the 21st February.

    The covers will come off two days before the first pre-season test, at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

    The A522 is going to be driven by world champ Fernando Alonso and race winner Esteban Ocon with 2022 being their second season together!

    Ocon got the honour to take the first win of newly named Alpine outfit, as Renault was renamed in 2021.

    Alpine will be wanting to improve on their finish last year, P5 in the constructors. But will they be able to achieve this or better this year as executive director Marcin Budkowski and four-time champion Alain Prost have departed the team this month.

  • Is Ocon Underrated?

    Is Ocon Underrated?

    During the season, we tend to look at the Championship contenders/ teams which are doing well more so than other teams/drivers. But seeing as the season has ended, now would be the perfect time to take a look back through the careers of some of the other F1 drivers on the grid. My main question being in this post is, is Esteban Ocon underrated?…

    Lets take a look back…

    The French man has had a good career so far, working his way through F3, GP3, DTM and the Formula 1, his first full season being in 2017 where he signed for a two year deal with Force India now called Aston Martin, his team-mate back then was Sergio Perez.

    But during the 2018 season, it is said that Ocon had an “informal agreement” with Renault for the 2019 season, because Lance Stroll was moving to Force India. But, the bad news for Ocon was Renault signing Daniel Ricciardo instead of Esteban Ocon which left no room for the now 25 year old.

    So Esteban became Mercedes reserve driver for the 2019 season- however he did not get the chance to fill in for a driver during the season but apparently became “very close” to replacing Valtteri Bottas, but they decided to stick with the Fin.

    After a year out, the french driver came back into F1 in the 2020 season with Renault and then now the newly named Alpine. He then signed a new 3 year deal which takes him up to then of 2024.

    Now looking onto this season. Overall he finished 11th, just 7 points away from his team-mate. We saw him get his first win in F1 in Hungary after he kept a cool-head knowing the fact Hamilton was on a war path to get higher up the gird, his team-mate Alonso, done some amazing defending helping the young driver to ensure on getting the win. As well as this, Ocon almost got on the podium in Saudi Arabia, as they crosed the line and Valtteri Bottas took it from him just!

    My Opinion-

    I personally, do think his underrated, if he had the right car underneath him I believe we would see a very good driver, I have a feeling he would be fighting for podiums etc. He is also very good at helping the team and him and Alonso get on well which we have all seen, if things go well for Alpine this year, we could see a few shock drives from Esteban.

  • Ocon to stay with Alpine

    It’s been confirmed on the eve of the French Grand Prix, that Esteban Ocon will be staying with french team Alpine till the end of 2024.

    Ocon joined the team when they were known as Renault at the start of the 2020 campaign, he scored his maiden F1 podium in Bahrain. This season though he has outperformed his double world champion team mate Fernando Alonso by scoring points four times in six Grand Prix.

    The team’s CEO Laurent Rossi said: “We are very proud to retain Esteban as part of the Alpine family. Since returning to the team in 2020, Esteban has grown in confidence and stature to deliver consistently good results and help develop the car with the team. We have every confidence in Esteban to help drive the team and the brand to the next level and meet its long-term objectives. Esteban is an asset for us beyond F1 as he is deeply involved in the Alpine global project.”

    My Opinion-

    I had a feeling Ocon was going to re-sign with Alpine, as it now seems that his getting comfortable with the team and the car. I do think it’s a good move from both Ocon and Alpine, it seems they work well together and that they look towards the future and hopefully fighting for championships. Also I think it’s nice it got announced on the week of his and his teams home race too, especially as theres fans there it makes it all a bit more special.