Alpine are ‘seriously considering’ dropping Esteban Ocon for the Canadian Grand Prix after crashing into teammate Pierre Gasly in Monaco, according to reports.
Charles Leclerc claimed an emotional victory at his home race on Sunday, in what was an admittedly very dull grand prix, aside from three separate collisions on the first lap.
One of those was caused by Ocon when he boldly attempted to lunge up the inside of Gasly at the Portier corner.
The two French drivers made heavy contact, leading to Ocon’s car going airborne and being damaged beyond repair.
He retired immediately and was handed a five-place grid penalty for the next race, but Gasly was able to continue and finished 10th, securing a vital point for the struggling French team.
Over the radio and after the race, Gasly slammed his teammate’s actions, as did team principal Bruno Famin, who angrily stated that there would be ‘consequences’.
‘Esteban’s attack was completely out of line. It’s exactly what we didn’t want to see, and there will be consequences,’ he told Canal+ while the race was still ongoing.
‘We are going to make a tough decision. On the first lap at the Portier, it was not the place to make a move, leaving no room for his team-mate.’
This lead to some speculation that Alpine could shockingly sack the 27-year-old mid-season, and while that may be a step too far, Sky Sports have now reported that benching Ocon for the next race in Montreal in under two weeks is ‘under serious consideration’.
Adding fuel to the fire, Famin was seen in deep conversation with Alpine’s highly-rated reserve driver Jack Doohan in Monte Carlo.
In any case, Ocon, who won his and Alpine’s only Formula 1 race to date in Hungary 2021, is very much driving for his future in the sport, with his contract up at the end of the year.
It’s a stark contrast to a few months ago when he was touted as a possible replacement for Sir Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes but that possibility is certainly out of the question now.
‘Ocon is a fine and fast racing driver, but history clearly demonstrates that he has an irrational red mist when it comes to racing, particularly against his team-mates,’ former F1 star Martin Brundle wrote in his Sky Sports column.
‘He has been heavily criticised before by Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso for his intra-team aggression and contact, and now Gasly too. It will cost Esteban heavily as no front running team would entertain that kind of mentality, or even perhaps any team.
‘A driver represents hundreds of hard working and professional people, and hundreds of millions of pounds of investment and sponsorship when driving for an F1 team. You simply can’t keep attacking your one team-mate with abandon.’
Ocon did apologise for the crash on social media, posting: ‘Today’s incident was my fault, the gap was too small in the end and I apologise to the team on this one. ‘Hoping for a deserved points-finish for the team today.’
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