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Distil Esteban Ocon's five seasons at Alpine/Renault into a sizzle reel and it would appear brilliant. The Hungaroring victory in 2021, sporadic, stunning weekends of overachievement, and some of the most resolute rearguard actions Formula 1 has ever seen make for some impactful highlights.
A more thorough dig through his five-season career with the Anglo-French squad - now over, one race earlier than planned - tells a less satisfying story.
That primarily reflects the team's meandering midfield trajectory. Constructors' championship positions of fifth, fourth, fifth, sixth and, provisionally for 2024, sixth encapsulates the mundane reality of Ocon's stint.
So, too, does the remarkable statistic that he spent 58% of his racing laps for the team running between seventh and 12th. While there were occasional podium finishes, just four of them including the Hungary win, so much of Ocon's good work was rewarded with minor results that don't do him justice on paper.
Such is the job of a midfield F1 driver that it's small wins and consistency that count. After a shaky start to his stint with the team, spent shaking off the rust of a season on the sidelines and struggling amid the quickfire nature of the COVID-compressed 2020 campaign, his first big result was second in Sakhir that season.
While outperformed by team-mate Daniel Ricciardo that year, he found his footing and was able to go toe-to-toe with the incoming Fernando Alonso in 2021 and 2022. The two made much of their 'best mates' act as co-operative team-mates but there were obvious cracks.
Ocon's streetfighter nature contributed to that, understandable for a driver who made F1 against the odds through sheer ability that earned him the support first of Gravity Sports Management then Mercedes and has fought hard for everything he's earned. But so too did the fact that Ocon was a thorn in Alonso's side.
Overall, Alonso was the stronger performer over those two seasons, but Ocon was good enough to earn an early contract extension that kept him at the team to the end of this year. And while old friend and more recent rival Gasly started to take control of the team in the second half of 2023, and was the more impressive driver in terms of overall performance this year, Ocon's statistics weigh up well compared to him.
The trouble is that while Ocon was a lynchpin of the team, he never quite became the main man. Over the five years alongside Ricciardo, Alonso and Gasly, the split was 50/50 in terms of which driver finished ahead in the race, he was behind in qualifying around 60% of the time, and in terms of racing laps the split was 46/54 against.
Those are good numbers, but not barnstorming ones - certainly not what you'd expect from Ocon were he to have lived up to the promise of his earlier career when he was considered a potential future Mercedes driver and maybe one who could evolve into world-champion material.
That Mercedes never promoted Ocon is revealing. In that regard, he was perhaps the ideal driver for Alpine. He always contributed well, but as well as the sporadic weekends of brilliance there were also stints where he went missing. There are some in the team who found him abrasive and difficult, although that was by no means universal as he also has plenty of fans among those he works with.
Either way, it was clear that the team's centre of gravity had shifted in Gasly's direction by the start of this year and the rumblings even at the start of the season were that he was on his way out.
The high points were remarkable. Ocon's second place in the wet at Interlagos just last month was outstanding, so too the performance throughout last year's Monaco weekend where he finished third and was characteristically obstinate in holding Lewis Hamilton behind hm.
It was a similar story in the wet at Suzuka in 2022, finishing fourth and miraculously keeping the Mercedes driver behind him for lap after lap.
This was Ocon at his best: confident, and able to carry the speed into the corner and use his classical style to carry it through and out.
However, there were also times when he disappeared.
Ocon is adamant that there's been some unspecified car problem creating instability in the corner-entry phase in the closing stages of this season and very forcefully rejects the notion that it's down to him struggling with the car dynamically.
The team equally emphatically denies there is any problem with the car, save for the fact that in Qatar only Gasly had the upgraded front wing.
The reality might well be somewhere in between but it is difficult to be certain where the responsibility for that really lies. What it proves is the relationship between team and driver has run its course.
Ocon often has spells when things aren't right even though it's difficult to unravel whether it really is him seeing technical ghosts, or if the Enstone team is genuinely having problems. Chances are, it’s a bit of both and there have been problems in the past that were proved that the team was sketchy about confirming, showing Ocon has at least at times had a point.
He also grew frustrated with the team's struggles technically, complaining earlier this year about feedback not being taken seriously and the failure to tackle ongoing problems.
By then, of course, it was official that he was out, which followed his refusal to heed repeated no-overtaking instructions ahead of the race at Monaco which resulted in an ill-fated attempt to pass Gasly at Portier.
Ocon's Alpine stint will be remembered for that glorious day in Hungary, for the robust battles with his team-mates and for the remarkable steel that underpins his affability.
It was his chance to lead a works team, albeit F1's least convincing such operation, one that he neither entirely grasped nor fell short in. That perhaps reflects his place in the F1 pecking order, never as one of the most in-demand drivers, but also in no danger of dropping off the grid except when external factors get in the way, as they did when he lost his Racing Point seat to Lance Stroll.
Overall, Ocon's contribution to the team has been a positive one and the results were patchy primarily because the team has fallen well short of its potential. He appears energised by the move to lean, mean Haas and that should allow him to produce his best work again. That will make him a potent force.
He leaves Alpine with a proven track record in F1's mid-pack, one he initially forged with Force India/Racing Point.
Nobody doubts he deserves a place on the grid and, at 28, his best in F1 may yet lie ahead.
