What's making already strained Ocon/Hamilton farewells worse

Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton are both living out a very sour separation with their long-term Formula 1 teams in the final stretch of Formula 1's 2024 season - and both playing their part in making it so.

UPDATE: Ocon set to vacate Alpine seat for Abu Dhabi F1 season finale

Both Ocon and Hamilton have been clearly adrift of their team-mates so far in Qatar, with performance gaps reflected through the sprint part of the weekend and maintained in qualifying.

In fact, Ocon's dire situation worsened as he was nearly nine tenths down on Pierre Gasly - a ludicrous gap over the 80-second Lusail lap - in Q1, while Hamilton's deficit to team-mate George Russell in Q3 was a more conventional, if still painful, four tenths.

What Ocon's been saying

After they had been closely matched for much of their time as Alpine team-mates, Gasly has been consistently outpacing Ocon in the closing stages of this season - as the latter prepares to depart Alpine for Haas.

Alpine has a new nose and front wing available this weekend, but only has enough for Gasly's part of the garage.

"I don't know, you need to ask the team really," said Ocon when asked whether that spec discrepancy could explain at least part of the nine-tenth gap.

"I mean... it's just a normal session, I would say. Nothing was particularly bad, looking at where we are. The lap was clean, I didn't go off, I didn't do a mistake.

"It's one of the laps that we should've gone through quite easily. But as soon as we crossed the line there's just no performance for us this weekend.

"The sprint race I managed to gain a few positions at the start, but after that I was fighting with cars that were in a different category. And I was getting dropped by a good amount of laptime, more than seven tenths. That was the case in the sprint race, it was averaging closer to a second, I would say. And yeah, that's what we lacked also in qualy unfortunately.

"We keep digging but it doesn't seem to go in the right direction."

Asked whether Alpine had an idea as to why it was like this, he said: "Ask the team."

Asked whether he was receiving equal treatment, he said: "I hope so."

What Hamilton's been saying

Hamilton turned heads on Friday already, when after sprint qualifying he told F1TV that he was "definitely not fast anymore" and tipped Russell rather than himself for the grand prix pole fight on Saturday.

That's exactly how it played out, and the gap between the pair stayed consistent - but were Hamilton's Friday answers a reflection of self-doubt as to his current capabilities, at least in qualifying?

Saturday suggested the answer to that was no.

"Pretty straightforward session. Car was feeling pretty decent," he said matter-of-factly, reiterating that he's been "slow".

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"I'm half a second off my team-mate in the same car. It's been all year."

But he also said: "I know I've still got it. Just... car won't go faster. I definitely know I've got it, still, it's not a question in my mind."

Asked for his explanation for being "slow" then - given he's sure he's "still got it" - he said he didn't have one - but he also insisted that "it's not possible to change".

And he told Sky: "I can't explain why I'm half a second off my team-mate. It's never happened, really, in my career. So I can't explain that. What I can say is... the car felt generally fine for me. There's not really much more I can add.

"I've given it absolutely everything, and the laps were generally feeling good, I'd just come across the line slow."

Left unsaid

Ocon became a Formula 1 grand prix winner with Alpine. Hamilton's achievements with Mercedes eclipse that of any other driver at any other team. Both of them would surely like a much more cordial end to these relationships - and both of them will feel that it's not their fault there isn't a happy ending here.

But it could be happier than this.

While Ocon says he "hopes" there is parity between him and Gasly, the Lusail front wing excepted, there is no possible other interpretation to his words other than an inference of being either ignored or outright undermined.

And, to be clear here, it strains credulity that a driver of his calibre could drive a Q1 that felt reasonably tidy and end up nine tenths behind their team-mate at Lusail without either a massive extenuating circumstance or something being unsaid.

But dancing around this potential disagreement with the team puts it right out there on the table anyway - just with the unearned veneer of dubiously plausible deniability. If Ocon has a feeling as to what's going on to leave him nine tenths adrift, expressing that feeling publicly would almost be a lesser act of antagonism towards his team than talking about it in this way.

Hamilton has been shorter with his answers and has left more room for interpretation, but he too must know the message that risks being sent. If his explanation is that he's "still got it" but has just lost ground over one lap, that really should be said. If his explanation is that he's "still got it" but just not in this Mercedes with is particularities, that can be said, too.

Because adding just a few words removes the other implication - that Mercedes is actively prioritising, favouring, boosting his team-mate over him despite his years of service. That he is not getting the best of what Team Brackley can offer him.

If either driver can point to a specific area where their performance is being limited - and, really, they pore over enough data to have an idea - then voicing that is only right, especially if it's something egregious. But if it's only a general hunch - well, F1 drivers need to protect their competitive value and signal when they don't feel underperformance is their fault, but both Ocon and Hamilton have multi-year deals in hand kicking in in 2025 and are hardly fighting for their immediate future.

In these two cases, these are not the driver-team relationships that could ever end on the best note, given the circumstances of the driver market movements that have led them to the point of separation.

The intolerable vagueness of it all, though, adds insult to injury. And while the drivers are easier to sympathise with, individuals juxtaposed against big companies, they too are clearly playing their part in this.

Scott Mitchell-Malm

What would Alpine gain?

Gasly has an upgrade Ocon is missing this weekend. But unless that front wing and nose is the greatest development of any team this year, it does not explain the laptime difference. And it is the only thing about the two cars that is not the same.

The bluntest take in response to that is that the problem therefore lies with Ocon. Driver psychology and comfort is always a little more complicated than that, and any limitations are likely to show up more in qualifying when the car is on the edge versus in the race where everything’s in a steadier state.

Beyond that, it seems impossible to trace this to some kind of team-related problem. Just last week team principal Oliver Oakes insisted “we’ve ruled out everything on our side” and said Alpine is “pretty confident” there are no discrepancies. And why would there be?

Alpine has worked extremely hard to turn around a season that started so dreadfully, and its Brazilian Grand Prix double podium has given it a shot at salvaging sixth in the championship. Ocon has played a vital role in getting it to that stage.

Alpine knows his value. Alpine knows the importance of having two cars in this fight. And Alpine knows what is at stake here: pride, momentum, and a significant amount of prize money (a swing of tens of millions depending on sixth, seventh or eighth).

So, is the team sacrificing that out of spite? Is it lacking the competence to guarantee equal performance across its cars? Is it hiding something? If Ocon believes any of that is the case, he should say it. He’s leaving anyway, so why not?

The fact he hasn’t, and is lashing out a little in another way, probably just reflects sincere frustration and bafflement at a consistent deficit to Gasly that has just unexpectedly manifested in the biggest gap yet.