Martin Brundle 'pretty sure' he knows which F1 team Esteban Ocon is joining

07 June 2024 , 17:56

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Esteban Ocon is leaving Alpine at the end of the season (Image: Getty Images)

Martin Brundle expects Esteban Ocon to driver for Haas next year after his Alpine exit.

It was announced earlier this week that this season will be Ocon's last as an Alpine driver. The news was made public just eight days after he caused a collision with team-mate Pierre Gasly which infuriated team boss Bruno Famin.

Ocon has something of a reputation for such incidents with team-mates which may well put off top teams. And, according to Sky Sports F1 pundit Brundle, the Frenchman is expected to sign with another outfit in the bottom five.

Speaking on the live TV broadcast ahead of practice in Montreal on Friday, Brundle said: "We think he'll turn up at Haas next year. He'll be there, I'm pretty sure he'll be there."

Colleague Danica Patrick thinks that would be a good decision and said: "When you look at his track record and the speed that he has, I think he still has great value to teams so, yeah, a team like Haas does make the most amount of sense. They have some veteran drivers and Esteban is younger, so I think it's a good move."

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The timing of the announcement of Ocon's impending exit naturally led to speculation that his brainless move on Gasly in Monaco had been the final straw. But the 27-year-old denied that is the case as he spoke to reporters in Canada.

He said: "A group like Renault doesn't take decisions on single moments like that. For us, it was important that... We've discussed for several months and we decided together not to continue. It's no secret that we've been talking with Alpine and various other teams as well.

"I've spent five years with this team, achieving great things, and having some more difficult moments, but I'm proud of what I've achieved with this team and it's time for me to have other challenges, exciting challenges."

Ocon similarly dismissed another claim that reserve driver Jack Doohan replaced him for first practice in Montreal as a punishment, adding: "I've seen various things about obviously Jack coming as a [punishment] or something, but it's not the case. We've decided that it was a good time with my [grid] penalty, that the track was obviously quite 'green' in the beginning. I had to give an FP1 [away] this year. We've done that here and I hope that Jack can provide some good feedback for the rest of the weekend for the team."

Daniel Moxon