Ayao Komatsu, team principal of the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, claims that he was unaware that the BWT Alpine F1 Team had used the post-season Abu Dhabi test with the Kannapolis-based team as leverage to have Esteban Ocon forfeit the final race of the 2024 season to Jack Doohan.
Ocon replaced by Doohan for Abu Dhabi GP
During the 2024 F1 Qatar GP weekend, rumours emerged that Ocon was set for an early exit from the Enstone-based team to allow him to drive for Haas in the post-season test in Abu Dhabi.
Decision to replace Ocon “slightly complex” — Oakes
However, when asked about these rumours post-race, Alpine team principal, Oliver “Ollie” Oakes stated that no definitive decision had been reached. He described the matter as “complex”, noting the contractual obligations between Ocon and Mercedes.
“I don’t think there’s been a definitive answer yet, but it has been talked about.
“It’s obviously slightly complex because, as much as he is ours, he’s obviously contractually a Mercedes junior as well, and obviously he’d like to be released early.”
When asked who had prompted discussions, Oakes replied: “I think it comes from all sides, really.”
Replacing Ocon with Doohan for Abu Dhabi GP “suits everybody” — Oakes
While Oakes acknowledged that Alpine would benefit from having Doohan in the car in Abu Dhabi, he claimed that it would be good for Ocon to “move on early.”
“I think, you know, I guess you could say it’s good to get Jack in early. I think you could say the same from Esteban’s side, it’s good to move on early.”
Oakes described the decision as mutually beneficial for all involved parties.
“I think it suits everybody.
“So I think the discussion was quite natural, really. And I think, you know, honestly, Esteban’s been a big part of this team as well.”
When asked, Oakes acknowledged Ocon’s frustrations with the A524 influenced the decision to release him early.
However, he added that the discussions were a “natural evolution” of Ocon “moving on” to Haas. Oakes emphasized that replacing Ocon with Doohan would benefit everyone involved.
“No, I think you could say, you know, that has a part to play. But I think really the bigger part is, you know, sort of a natural evolution, really, of he’s moving on.
“You know, does it suit both of us to do that just a bit earlier for the last round or not?
“And from the other side, it’s also, you know, you could look at it as it’s advantageous to get Jack in the team, working with everybody and you know, get those butterflies gone now rather than next year in Australia somewhat.”
“This was not how I wanted things to end” — Ocon on Alpine exit ahead of Abu Dhabi GP
Just one day after Oakes’ comments, however, Alpine confirmed that reserve driver Jack Doohan would make an early F1 debut.
Ocon confirmed his exit from Alpine on social media. However, he appeared to disagree with Oakes, saying, “This is not how I wanted things to end.”
The 2021 Hungarian GP winner expressed further disappointment at not being able to properly say goodbye to the Alpine staff.
Oakes “gave me his word” about Ocon driving for Haas — Komatsu
Ahead of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in his Thursday media session, Ayao Komatsu was asked about Ocon’s early departure from Alpine. The Japanese team boss confirmed there was no written agreement but mentioned discussing the matter with Oakes during a commission meeting.
“Not written down, but I spoke to Ollie in one of the commission meetings.”
Komatsu could not recall the details of the conversation. However, he claimed that Oakes had agreed to allow Ocon to do the Abu Dhabi test with Haas.
“That was before, I can’t remember when, just so many things [have] happened. So way before I confirmed it, we said, yeah, it’s not problem.”
The Haas boss stated that Alpine’s internal affairs were not his concern. However, he claimed that Oakes had agreed to allow Ocon to do the post-season test.
He described a conversation that he had had with Oakes where they had discussed Ocon’s suit for the test. He added that he had trusted the former karting World Champion to keep his word.
“That’s up to them, it’s got nothing to do with me. I spoke with Ollie and Ollie said ‘yeah, it’s okay no problem. You can have Ocon driving the car. Then what should we do with the suit? Should we just do it in a white suit? Yeah, that’s the simplest, isn’t it’? Then that was it.
“I’m pretty simple in that sense, that whatever goes on internally at alpine has got nothing to do with me, right. So for me, Ollie gave me his word, so that was good enough.”
Oakes “hasn’t said anything different since” — Komatsu on Ocon Abu Dhabi post-season test
When asked if he had known that the test was being used by Alpine as leverage against Ocon, Komatsu replied, “I don’t know, honestly. Whatever happens in Alpine, it’s got nothing to do with me internally.”
Komatsu explained he was unaware of any changes to Ocon’s post-season test before the Qatar GP. However, he added that he would have expected to contact him if there had been changes to their agreement.
“As far as I’m concerned, last time I spoke to Ollie about this, Ollie was happy that Esteban could drive for us in the post-season test, and he hasn’t said anything different ever since.
“So if something has changed, then I expect him to come to talk to me about it, but he hasn’t.
“So he gave me his word, so that was good enough for me.”
Ocon’s “new journey” with Haas to start on Monday
While Ocon has left Alpine, Komatsu confirmed that Ocon would not be considered a Haas driver until after the race. He emphasized that the focus on Hülkenberg and Magnussen for the Abu Dhabi GP weekend.
“Obviously he’s left Alpine. But this weekend is still the 2024 season and we’re trying to finish this season with Kevin and Nico, that’s their last race with us as well, so we’re really focused on that.
“Esteban’s new journey starts on Monday, Monday after the race.”
When asked about Ocon’s reaction to being dropped, Komatsu said the Frenchman was “fine” and eager to join Haas.
“No, he’s fine. He’s fine, he’s looking forward to joining us.”
Komatsu said the excitement to bring Ocon to Haas was mutual. However, he did not express sympathy for Ocon’s departure, stating he didn’t know “the full story.”
“Again, you just never know the full story, right? I don’t really know what’s going on there, so I don’t want to sit here and judge what they do or anything like that.”
“But I’m just looking forward to having him be a part of our team from Monday.”
Komatsu does not believe that new Haas recruit Ocon has ever had a problem with motivation
When asked if he believed that Ocon would be more motivated to succeed at Haas following his less-than-elegant dismissal from Alpine, Komatsu claimed that he did not believe that Ocon had ever had a problem with motivation. Komatsu described Ocon as “a really determined character” and cited his motivation as key to signing him.
“I think he’s always been really motivated anyway. That’s part of the big reason why I signed him.
“He’s a really determined character and his work ethic is good, regardless of if your car is quick enough or slow.
“At the beginning of this season, when Alpine was absolutely nowhere, I think he was still putting in lots of effort to motivate the team and try to move the team forward. I really respect that.
“So I don’t think motivation is ever his problem.”
Komatsu believes that replacing Ocon with Doohan has “weakened” Alpine’s fight for P6 against Haas
Komatsu stated that he believed that Alpine had weakened their Abu Dhabi campaign by substituting Doohan for Ocon.
“I mean, they obviously weakened a little bit their case. Ocon is more experienced than Jack Doohan.”
He claimed that this was not a decision that he would have taken. However, he refused to comment further on Alpine’s decision, stating that it was not his place to say.
“I wouldn’t, but then again, whatever they do, it’s got nothing to do with me. I’m not here to comment on what they do. I’m sure they have their own reasons and it’s not my place to say anything.”
While he admitted that reserve driver, Oliver Bearman, had been scheduled to drive in Free Practice session 1, Komatsu stated that he would have preferred to keep things within the team “as consistent as possible.” He said that he had explained this to Bearman who had been “totally understanding.”
“Well, to be honest, Oliver was scheduled to drive FP1 here. But now that Ollie had two races with us, Baku and Interlagos, and then this weekend, we just knew he was going to go all the way down to the wire.
“So for me, it didn’t make sense to put Oliver in FP1. Even somebody as good as Oliver, and our future driver, we just wanted to keep this weekend as consistent as possible.
“So for me, whoever starts in FP1 should be racing here, for our team anyway. So again, I told that to Olly, and he was totally understanding.”
Haas with “try to do our best race” in Abu Dhabi — Komatsu
While Komatsu admitted that Haas’ chances to claim P6 in the championship would depend on whether Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was able to outscore the British and Italian-based team, he stated that he believed that Haas had the car to maximise their chances.
“Well, six points. If you finish P8 and P9, you get six points. Then if Gasly doesn’t score, that’s us. So, you know, you cannot control what Gasly does, obviously, but P8, P9, I feel with our car, is certainly possible.”
However, he stated that Haas would focus on their own objectives on the race, and expected Alpine to do the same.
“Yeah, maybe, but it’s fine. Again, do what they want. They have their objective, we have our objective.”
He identified that Haas’ greatest advantage was the experience of both drivers. However, he claimed that they would need to avoid mistakes, such as those made with Hülkenberg in Qatar.
“The most important thing for us is we have to get both drivers. With the competitiveness of the team, if we only had one driver, there’s very little chance.
“So we’ve got to make sure we don’t make mistakes like we did in the previous race, the qualifying with Nico. That put Nico completely out of contention for the race. If we’ve done that, it’s game over.
“So we’ve got to really be focused, and then make sure we get both drivers in the top ten, or as close to the top ten as possible, and go from there.”
Haas have to outscore Alpine by six points
Komatsu emphasised that the team had adopted a “very different mindset” than that that they had Qatar. He highlighted that outscoring Alpine was “a very tall order” but stated that the team would try to do their best race.
“We try to do our best race and try to score as many points as possible.
“They are five points ahead. So it’s a very different mindset than last week. Last week we didn’t do it very well, but the mindset is totally different.
“It’s not good enough to be basically doing the same as them or scoring the same points. We’ve got to outscore them by six points.
“But to score six points is a very tall order. So we’ve just got to focus on getting two drivers to score points as high as possible. That’s all we can do.”
