Esteban Ocon

**Esteban José Jean-Pierre Ocon-Khelfane** (born 17 September 1996) is a French racing driver who competes for Alpine in Formula 1.5, racing under the French flag. He made his Formula 1.5 debut for Manor Racing in the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix, replacing Rio Haryanto. Ocon was a part of the Mercedes-Benz driver development programme until his move to Renault.

## Personal Life

Esteban Ocon was born in Évreux, Normandy to Sabrine Khelfane and Laurent Ocon, a mechanic who owns a garage in Évreux. He is of Algerian and Spanish descent as his paternal family is originally from Málaga.

## F1.5 Career

### **Mannor Racing (2016)**

#### **2016 Season**

On 10 August 2016, Rio Haryanto was dropped from the backmarker Manor Racing team after his sponsors had failed to meet their contractual obligations. Ocon was named as his replacement for the second half of the season, driving alongside Pascal Wehrlein. Ocon made his Formula One debut at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix, finishing 10th. Ocon got a personal best of 7th place in both Brazil and Abu Dhabi, taking his total points tally to 13 and finishing 17th in the championship.

### **Force India (2017-2018)**

#### **2017 Season**

On 10 November 2016, Force India announced that they had signed Ocon for the 2017 season as part of his multi-year contract with Mercedes, with Sergio Pérez as his new teammate. Ocon scored his first points for the team in Australia, finishing 5th. Ocon went on to acheive 2 more top 5 finishes at the next 2 races with a 4th in China and 5th in Bahrian. The French driver then went on to score his maiden podium at the next race in Russia, finishing 2nd, followed by another 2nd place at Spain. By the time the summer break had came around Ocon had finished every race and finished on the podium 6 times with 5 second place finishes and a third. In Belgium, Ocon took his maiden pole position but Ocon was involved in a controversial collision with teammate Pérez during the race, ending Pérez's race. At the next race in Italy, he won for the first time in his career. At Malaysia, Esteban took pole position, which was the first of 4 in a row. He finished the race in 5th, however starting the next three races from pole, saw him win each one. His streak of finishing 27 consecutive races ended at the Brazilian Grand Prix where he had an accident with Romain Grosjean after they collided on the first lap of the race. At the final race in Abu Dhabi, Ocon was going head-to-head with teammate Sergio Perez for the Drivers Championship. Ocon finished the race third, which was not enough to win. He finished the season 2nd in the championship with 300 points.

#### **2018 Season**

Ocon continued alongside Pérez at Force India for 2018, in a season that saw numerous incidents between the two teammates. Ocon's first points of the season came with a 6th-place finish in Australia. In Azerbaijan, he was involved in a first-lap collision with Kimi Räikkönen that ended his race. Ocon retired with an oil leak at the next race in Spain. He then recorded 1st and 3rd place finishes in Monaco and Canada respectively, but then retired from his home race in France after a first-lap collision. Ocon went on to get two more podiums and also a 4th and 8th place finishes before the summer break.

By the summer break, Force India was in severe financial trouble and faced a winding-up order from HMRC. A group of creditors including teammate Pérez took legal action against the team and put it into administration, saving the team from collapse and the jobs of its employees. The assets of the team were purchased by a consortium of investors led by Canadian businessman Lawrence Stroll, father of Williams driver Lance Stroll. Some suspected that Lance Stroll would now soon join Racing Point Force India, replacing Ocon due to Pérez's role in saving the team. However, the new team confirmed that Ocon and Pérez would continue with them for the rest of the season. It was later revealed that Ocon had an "informal agreement" to join Renault for 2019 before the team made a shock signing in Daniel Ricciardo, now leaving Ocon's future in doubt.

At the new team's first race in Belgium, Ocon produced excellent drives to qualify 1st and finish 2nd. A win at Italy followed this. In Singapore, Ocon and Pérez collided on the first lap, causing Ocon to crash into a wall and ending his race. The team described the collision as "unacceptable" and banned the drivers from racing each other. Pérez apologised for his role in the accident. Two third places followed, before Ocon was disqualified from 8th place at the United States Grand Prix after his car was found to have exceeded fuel flow limits.

At the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix, Ocon hit Formula One driver Max Verstappen while trying to unlap himself, damaging both cars. Both drivers were able to continue racing, and Ocon received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for the incident. They argued just after the race and Verstappen and Ocon pushed each other several times. Both drivers were summoned by the FIA.

Ocon finished the season 5th with 198 points.

### **Renault (2020)**

#### **2020 Season**

Ocon raced for Renault starting in 2020, on a two-year contract. His Renault debut marked his return to Formula One as a full-time driver. He replaced Nico Hülkenberg, and partnered with Daniel Ricciardo.

In his first race with the team, the Austrian Grand Prix, he finished sixth after lots of retirments in the race. At the following round, the Styrian Grand Prix, he qualified well, but he retired on lap 26 due to a problem. At Hungary, Ocon finished just in the points, in 10th place. He finished 4th at the British Grand Prix, following a puncture on Carlos Sainz' car. He then finished fourth again at the same track for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, after being given a grid penalty for impeading George Russell in qualifying. Ocon finished 9th at Spain. For the Belgian Grand Prix, it was a very emotional weekend for him, as the previous year he suffered the death of his friend Anthoine Hubert at the circuit. He qualified 2nd and finished 2nd just behind Ricciardo. At the Italian Grand Prix, he was running with an alternative strategy, however he finished 6th after red flags were shown on lap 26 due to an accident involving Charles Leclerc. At the Tuscan Grand Prix, he made it to Q3, but did not set a time due to a spin. In the race, he retired on lap 7 due to a brake problem. At the Russian Grand Prix he finished 4th after leading early on. At the Eifel Grand Prix, he qualified well but retired on lap 22 due to a hydraulics problem. At the Portuguese Grand Prix he finished 5th. In the next race, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix he retired on lap 29 due to a clutch problem. At the Turkish Grand Prix, after a small contact at the start with Lewis Hamilton, a spin and a puncture, he finished 8th. At the Bahrain Grand Prix he finished 5th. During an interview, he stated that an incident on the first lap, involving Romain Grosjean was really shocking and scary. At the next race, the Sakhir Grand Prix, he finished 2nd to take his second podium of the season. Ocon finished the season 8th with 125 points.

### **Alpine (2021-)**

#### **2021 Season**

Ocon's 2021 season got off to an OK start with a 9th place finish in Bahrain, followed by a 7th place in Imola. Things looked up in Portugal, qualifying on the front row and then going on to finish third. This would be his first podium of the season. Spain followed with a strong result in 5th place. Monaco, wasn't so great for the frenchman finishing sixth, before retiring in Azerbaijan from a machanical failure.

Ocon started fourth at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Multiple collisions ahead saw him promoted to the lead at the first corner. He would go on to be victorious, which was his first win the Italian Grand Prix in 2018. It was also Alpine's first win. After the win in Hungary, Ocon would score at the next five Grand Prix's. The Turkish Grand Prix took place in damp conditions and Ocon finished sixth having run the entire race distance on one set of intermediate-weather tyres. This was the first time a driver had completed a full race distance without making a pit stop since 1997.

A collision with Antonio Giovinazzi at the United States Grand Prix broke Ocon's front wing and ultimately led to retirement. It wouldn't take long to bounce back with a fourth place finish at Brazil, followed by a second place at Qatar. At the next event in Saudi Arabia, Ocon took his second win of the season after an incident packed race.

Ocon finished 7th in the drivers standings with 166 points, compared to teammate Alonso who finished 6th with 176 points.

#### 2022 Season

Alpine retained Ocon and Alonso for the 2022 season. Ocon finished third at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix despite receiving a penalty for colliding with Mick Schumacher. He qualified on pole in Saudi Arabia and also took the win, becoming the first driver (and only, to date) to win the Saudi Arabian GP twice. This win took him to the championship lead for the first time in his F1.5 career. He would take another podium at the next round in Australia, finishing third, however in Imola he finished a lowly 9th after engine issues plagued his qualifying and Sprint. This result lost Ocon the lead of the championship by 20 points. Nethertheless, the returned to the next round in Miami to score back-to-back second places in Miami and Spain to make sure he remained part of the championship fight with Norris and Bottas. Ocon fell back in third place after two sixth places in Monaco and Azerbaijan, but he would go on to take a second win of the season in Canada, that put him back in to 2nd place in the standings behind Bottas, by 10 points.

Ocon would fail to finish the next race at the British GP as well as championship rival Bottas. Norris went on to finish the race 2nd, meaning Ocon fell to third in the standings. In Austrira, it was another sprint race with Ocon taking pole posititon in the sprint gaining him 8 points and also winning the race. The win put him back ontop the championship on countback ahead of Lando Norris. In France, Ocon finished third behind Norris in 2nd, meaning he would once again loose the lead of the standings,this time by 3 points. In the final race before the summer break in Hungary, Ocon finished third whilst Norris took the win making the gap 13 points. Alonso took 2nd in Hungary to move above Bottas into third in the standings.

On return to the sport in Belgium, Ocon qualified on pole position but started further back due to a grid penalty, Ocon worked his way back up to 2nd place for the end of the race behind only his teammate Alonso. Norris would finish the race 7th, allowing Ocon to close up the gap in the championship to just 2 points. In the Netherlands ocon took a third place finish, again behind his teammate Alonso who won the race but also behind his championship rival Norris who extended the championship lead to 5 points. Monza saw Ocon struggle finishing only 5th whilst Norris took the win from pole position, loosing him ground in the championship to 21 points. If Monza wasn't bad enough, Singapore was worse. Both Alpine drivers failed to see the end of the race and with Norris taking the win the championship gap was further extended to 47 points. Ocon bounced back to win the next race in Japan from pole position to narrow the lead of Norris in the championship to 32 points.

The final four races were far from smooth sailing, with Ocon finishing a lowly 6th in America whilst Norris took the win to extend the gap in the championship. A 2nd place followed in Mexico, with Norris in third. Going in to Brazil Ocon had to do everything he could to stop Norris winning the championship. However, in the Sprint, Alonso made contact with Ocon twice to damage the car and put him out of the title race, securing Norris' 2nd world championship. In the main race both Alpine's stormed through the pack to take a 1-2 finish with Alonso taking the win and this was enough for Alpine to take their maiden constructors championship. Ocon would finish Abu Dhabi in 2nd.

Ocon finished the season in runners up to Norris, the 2nd time in his career he had finished 2nd. The last time was when Perez won the championship in 2017. Alpine won their maiden constructors championsip in the 2022 season.

Ocon has signed a contract with Alpine to remain with the team until the end of the 2024 season.

#### 2023 Season

He is set to drive alongside former karting rival Pierre Gasly for 2023 as Alonso departs the team.

In the first race at Bahrain, he was penalized three times. First, he was given a five-second penalty for being out of the position on the grid. Second, he was handed a ten-second time penalty for failing to serve the penalty correctly, and he was awarded the third penalty after being caught speeding in the pit lane. Ocon eventually retired from the race on lap 43.

The second race was more on-form for Ocon, taking pole with the win and fastest lap which meant Ocon and Alpine had won every Saudi Arabian Grand Prix every year since it joined the calendar. Ocon would retire from the Australian Grand Prix after contact with his new teammate Pierre Gasly. As the crash was on the penultimate lap both drivers were classified and therefore scored points.