All the attention at the Canadian Grand Prix was focused at the front. But further back, there was something else happening. Something more nefarious, something that ties into one of the worst storylines of this season. And I don’t think Esteban Ocon deserves any of this.
By the end of the race, Daniel Ricciardo was running in eighth place. No idea how he got there. Right behind him were the two Alpines of Ocon and Pierre Gasly, running in ninth and tenth respectively. No idea how they got there either. Ocon was trying to chase down Ricciardo but couldn’t really get any closer than two seconds. So as the laps were ticking down, Alpine decided to swap the two drivers. Ninth and tenth might be enough to double the team’s points total, but if they could get that eighth place they would actually triple their points. So they figured it would be worth it to let Gasly try and overtake Ricciardo.
This isn’t unusual by itself. Teams often do this if they think the second driver is faster. However, there was absolutely no reason to think that. Gasly wasn’t being held back by Ocon in any way and he didn’t show any more speed than his teammate. Additionally, doing a swap is very dangerous for the driver who is ahead. You essentially force them to slow down and drop their defenses to let their teammate through. In this case, Nico Hulkenberg was only two seconds behind Gasly and could have easily overtaken Ocon if the swap wasn’t executed properly.
A swap like this has to be fair
There’s something else. Usually, in a fair situation, the driver who is ahead is promised that they can have the position back if the other driver can’t get any further. Ocon’s ninth place would have given him two additional points, while tenth only gives you one point. That might sound like a small difference, but remember: Ocon only had one point to begin with before the race, same as Gasly. So normally speaking, if Gasly couldn’t overtake Ricciardo, he would have been told to give the position back to Ocon and finish where they started this whole ordeal.
When Ocon asked his engineer if that was actually going to happen, he got a pretty frustrating answer: “That's what I'm working on”. The engineer had to negotiate with the team to have Ocon get the place back that he had earned throughout the race. And a few laps later the confirmation came in: the cars were not swapping back, even though Gasly couldn’t get any closer to Ricciardo than Ocon had. Gasly finished ninth, Ocon finished tenth. The team - and most likely team principal Bruno Famin - had flat out refused to give Ocon the position back he had earned.
What was the point?
There was absolutely nothing to win for Alpine by not giving Ocon back his place. The only thing it achieved was that Gasly now has more points than Ocon. It’s cruel, humiliating and unacceptable behavior, and it’s just not how you treat your drivers. Ocon himself acknowledged as much after the race. He told his engineer he had “no comment”, and in interviews afterward he admitted he was being too nice by playing the team game when the team didn’t repay that kindness.
Team principal Famin had no desire to respond to that assessment and instead chose to downplay it completely. “He had a little bit of a hot reaction, which is normal”, Famin told the media in Montreal. “I understand it, with the adrenaline of the race, and I’m sure everything will calm down very quickly. I have no worries about that. I am very happy with the work done by the drivers, both Esteban and Pierre.”
A “hot reaction” huh? Is that similar to saying “there will be serious consequences” about your driver while the race is still going on, or is that less of a hot reaction?
It’s clear by now that Alpine in general and Famin in particular have no desire to treat Ocon fairly for the remainder of their time together. I don’t know how toxic it will get, but what the team showed in Canada was already unacceptable. As icing on the cake they even thanked him for “playing the team game” and “help us bring home the three points”. Just as a reminder: Alpine was already on track for those three points regardless of the call with Ocon. The end result would have been the same even if they had allowed Ocon to keep his position.
It doesn’t matter how you feel about Ocon as a driver or as a person, this is just not the right way to treat people. It’s a public humiliation of your driver by a team principal who doesn’t even want to own up to what he did even though it was clear to see for everyone.
Playing the team game 🤝
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) June 9, 2024
A huge thanks to @OconEsteban to help us bring home the three points. pic.twitter.com/yrhCxAVkyf
To quote Ocon’s race engineer: there’s still a long way to go this season.