Ocon calls Brazil podium perfect Alpine farewell

Esteban Ocon says Alpine’s shock double podium at the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix was the perfect way to end his time with the team, even if he still regrets not pushing harder for a possible win.

In a video published by Formula 1, Ocon described the result as “a good closing chapter” to his Alpine story and said “there was no better way to close it than that.” Sharing the podium with Pierre Gasly made it even more significant for Ocon, who called it “incredibly special” because Alpine had “probably one of the slowest cars on the grid at the time.”

That was what made the Interlagos turnaround so striking. Ocon said he had been only 17th in dry conditions the day before, then woke at 5:00 a.m. as the weather shifted, qualified fourth and went on to lead for “15 laps or 20 laps.” He eventually finished second to Max Verstappen, with Gasly also reaching the podium in a result Ocon said was “unexpected to say the least.”

The finish carried extra weight because it came at the end of Ocon and Gasly’s often tense spell as Alpine team-mates. Their rivalry stretches back to childhood karting in France and had remained in the background throughout their time together at Enstone, including collisions at the 2024 Australian and Monaco Grands Prix, before ending with Alpine’s surprise double podium in Brazil.

For Ocon, though, the result also left a lingering sense of what might have been. He said the podium came so unexpectedly that he “didn’t fight for the win so hard,” adding that was “a bit of regret” because he saw Brazil as Alpine’s one real podium chance of the 2024 season and did not want to throw the car away.

He said that if he had been in that position more often during the year, he might have taken the fight to Verstappen more aggressively because “there was a chance to win the race.” Ocon said he was “happy to take second,” but admitted “deep inside me, it didn’t feel complete” because there was still “something a little bit more to play,” leaving Brazil as both a standout Alpine farewell and a missed chance at an even bigger finish.