Esteban Ocon admits Fernando Alonso may have been right about Alpine as Haas move confirmed

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Esteban Ocon is joining Haas for 2025 after leaving Alpine, it was announced on Thursday. Alpine confirmed Ocon’s exit in June and Haas appeared his likeliest destination from the outset.

It’s the third consecutive race weekend where the American team have issued news about their driver line-up. At Silverstone, they revealed that reserve driver Oliver Bearman would be graduating to a full-time race seat.

Haas have had a known vacancy since April, when Nico Hulkenberg committed to joining the Sauber/Audi project. Teammate Kevin Magnussen, meanwhile, was approaching the end of his contract.

And Magnussen made his exit official at the Hungarian GP, paving the way for Haas to unveil Ocon at Spa. It’s the third time in his career he’s joined a team immediately after Hulkenberg has left (following on from Force India in 2017 and Renault in 2020).

Ocon has been at Enstone for the best part of five seasons, racing alongside three different teammates in that time. He joined to partner Daniel Ricciardo, and then competed with Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly.

The Frenchman scored his first career victory in Alpine colours at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. He’s delivered two more podiums either side of that milestone (Sakhir 2020 and Monaco 2023).

Esteban Ocon accuses Alpine of ignoring their drivers

Speaking to L’Equipe, Ocon strongly criticised Alpine ahead of his departure. He feels the team is swamped in bureaucracy, preventing any real progress.

From 2020 to 2023, they finished between fourth and sixth in the constructors’ championship. By 2024, Alpine aimed to be competing for regular podiums, but instead they plummeted to the foot of the field in the midst of an internal crisis.

Ocon stuck with the team after Ricciardo and Alonso left. But he now fully understands why they grew frustrated.

He accused Alpine of ignoring their drivers’ technical feedback, to the extent that they’ve been nursing some of the same issues for five years. He expects to feel much more valued under Ayao Komatsu at Haas.

“[At Haas], there really is one person who decides and that counts in lots of technical choices,” he said. “There aren’t 36,000 people upstairs to ask for validation. You’re not faced with something you ask for and they tell you: ‘It’s not done because the guy’s gone on vacation’.

“At times, when we made technical remarks, there was never any feedback. A lot of things went out the window unfortunately and weren’t seen or taken seriously.

“Whether it was for me, whether it was for Fernando, whether it was for Daniel, and myself included, we weren’t listened to. That’s why five years later, on this car, there are still some shortcomings that were there when I arrived in 2020. In five years, if we had to do something, we would have done it before.

“I have no regrets because I have, with Haas, a 100% team behind me, who will listen to me. I feel loved and wanted. And that’s really important.”

Oliver Bearman reacts to Esteban Ocon Haas move

For the first time in his career, Ocon will take on a team leader role at Haas. For years, he was the junior figure alongside established drivers like Sergio Perez, Ricciardo or Alonso.

His partnership with Gasly was a marriage of equals, but now Komatsu may look to him to mentor Bearman. Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur demanded an experienced teammate after allowing his academy driver to make the move.

Bearman has already congratulated Ocon on social media after Thursday’s announcement. Many will be observing the dynamic between the two drivers closely after spells of acrimony between the 27-year-old and his previous teammates.

Hulkenberg also issued his reaction, joking that the ex-Mercedes junior clearly ‘likes his groundwork’. The German has set a strong benchmark for his successor, having scored an impressive 22 points for Haas so far this season.