Who will replace Esteban Ocon at Alpine?

The announcement of Esteban Ocon’s departure at the end of the season comes a week after the Frenchman caused a collision with his teammate, Pierre Gasly, during the first lap of the Monaco Grand Prix. The decision to part ways with the French driver was not solely based on this accident, but it did impact the team’s final decision. The 27-year-old driver’s contract was set to expire at the end of this season, making his seat one of the 10 in contention for 2025.

Ocon joined the Renault team in 2020, winning his only victory the following year at the Hungarian Grand Prix and two other podiums during his time with the team based in Enstone. He stated that he would announce his future plans very soon, but that he would continue to drive for Alpine until the end of the year.

Who could replace Esteban Ocon at Alpine?

Alpine will now seek a replacement for Esteban Ocon for the 2025 season.

Jack Doohan

Reserve driver at Alpine.

Best position in the F2 Championship: 3rd (2023)

One of the most likely candidates, Jack Doohan , who made his single-seater debut in 2018, in the British F4 championship, completing his season with appearances in the Italian and ADAC Formula 4 championships that same year. He progressed to Asian F3 and Euroformula Open in 2019, finishing 2nd and 11th respectively.

Doohan joined the HWA Racelab team in Formula 3 in 2020, but experienced difficulties throughout this first season, achieving a best result of 11th place and scoring zero points, before moving to Trident the following year and clinching second place in the drivers’ standings. The 21-year-old driver moved up to F2, completing two full seasons in competition, securing six victories and 11 podiums. In 2022, an impressive performance enabled Doohan to finish 3rd in the championship, notably claiming three victories (Hungary, Belgium, and Abu Dhabi).

The Australian joined the Alpine Academy in 2022, which included F1 car driving tests. In 2023, during his final year in F2, the Australian was announced as a reserve driver for Alpine and took part in tests throughout the season, including testing sessions at the Mexico and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Since then, he has fully focused on the 2024 season with Alpine, which includes A522 testing and simulator tests to help the team make improvements to the car.

Mick Schumacher

Alpine WEC Driver

F1 Races: 43

Formula 1 Points: 12

Best position in the F2 Championship: 1st (2020)

Championship titles: European F3 Championship (2018), F2 Championship (2020)

Mick Schumacher could have a second chance in Formula 1, thanks to his ties with the Alpine team. The German is currently a reserve driver for Mercedes and McLaren and has held this position since the beginning of the 2023 season.

The German driver is a former winner of Formula 4 races and has won both the 2018 F3 European championship and the 2020 F2 title. The son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher then joined the Haas F1 team before being fired at the end of the 2022 season. He had two disappointing seasons with the American team, scoring points only in two races in 2022. He failed to reach the top 10 in the other 42 races and retired five times.

Schumacher has since worked with Alpine, testing their Endurance prototype in 2023, before being signed to join the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship in 2024 for the Enstone-based team. Bruno Famin had also highlighted the good work done by the German driver.

Zhou Guanyu

F1 driver at Sauber

Formula 1 races: 52

Points F1: 12

Best position in the F2 Championship: 6th

Championship Titles: F3 Asia Championship (2021)

Zhou Guanyu has also been linked to a potential move to Alpine, because his contract with Sauber expires at the end of the 2024 season. Sauber has already signed Nico Hülkenberg for one of the team’s seats for the upcoming season, but has not yet announced which of its two current drivers, if any, will remain with the team.

The Chinese driver is a former member of the Alpine Academy, who was a test driver for the team in 2020 and 2021. He has experienced quite disappointing years in F1 where he finished 18th in the championship in the last two years and only scored six points in 52 starts.

Before joining Formula 1, Zhou spent three years in F2, before winning the Asian F3 championship in 2021.

The other drivers without a contract in 2024

There is still half of the current F1 grid without a seat for next season, which could lead to all considering a possible move to Alpine. Drivers whose contracts expire at the end of the year include: Carlos Sainz, Sergio Pérez, Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas.