Not much is certain at Alpine these days, with veteran driver Fernando Alonso on his way out and Oscar Piastri not all that keen about taking his place.
The Enstone team felt promoting their reserve driver was a formality after learning of the Spaniard's impending departure to Aston Martin. But the young Aussie is instead eyeing a move to McLaren, and the situation is likely to end with a court case as both teams feel they have valid deals with the F2 champion.
Amid the madness, the one man they can rely on is Esteban Ocon. The Frenchman loves driving for a team from his homeland and is secured until the end of the 2024 season – so at least Alpine know who one of their drivers will be next year.
But since the identity of his team-mate is not yet known, it is unclear exactly what his standing will be. The arrival of an F1 rookie in Piastri would have seen Ocon take on the role of team leader, tasked with helping to guide his less experienced partner. If he goes to McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo comes the other way, then the former Red Bull star would be the senior driver.
Regardless of what happens, Alpine chief Otmar Szafnauer says he has no concerns about Ocon's ability to take on a leadership role if required. "Esteban is a super talent – I worked with him at Force India and those were the days of Sergio Perez as his teammate," said the Romanian-American.
"He was as quick as Sergio and raced Sergio hard, and if you remember those days, they were always together on the grid. And sometimes they even came together in the races! And we see what Sergio is capable of.
"With Fernando too, although Fernando's got the skill and the talent to get a lap out of the car very quickly. He needs three or four laps and he's at 99%, or 99.9%, and that extra 0.1% comes with a few laps more, if you know what I mean, whereas Esteban takes a little bit more time to get the maximum out of the car.
"But ultimately, on Saturday, and then Sunday, he's there. So he needs to learn a little bit to get there a bit faster. But we're working with him on that.
"And thereafter, can he lead the team? For sure he's getting better and better. He's got a race win under his belt. He's scored good points for us this year. And he'll learn more by the time we get to next year."
