All is not well in Enstone. A double points finish in the Canadian Grand Prix seemed promising, but Alpine is left in disagreement over team orders.
It comes the first race after Esteban Ocon announced his departure from the team, which was surely accelerated by bouncing over this teammate, Pierre Gasly, in the Monaco Grand Prix.
Alpine has struggled all season with a car that is overweight and underperforming. Their first point was scored five races in at Miami, where Ocon finished 10th.
Now they must not only deal with poor performance, but an Ocon that seems disconnected from the team. His next destination has not been announced yet.
What happened in Montreal?
Near the end of the race on lap 69, after the drivers had settled into a finally dry track, both Alpines were running inside the points after starting outside the top ten.
Ocon was then told by his engineer to swap the cars as they believed they could challenge Daniel Ricciardo if Gasly was ahead. He replied with a quick "yeah, forget it," before finally giving up the place, believing the team would swap the cars at the end if Pierre was unsuccessful.
By the time Gasly overtook Ocon, the gap to Ricciardo up ahead was too large to try to overtake before the end of the race.
The Haas of Nico Hulkenberg was then too close to Ocon behind to safely swap the positions, leaving them to remain with Gasly ahead at the end of the race.
Esteban was quick on the radio after the race, saying: "No comments. I’m too nice. Too nice.
I’ve done what I have to do which is the most important but you guys didn’t do what you had to do. That’s it."
Alpine were quick to blame an 'energy management issue' that impacted his speed. They also believed that Pierre could attack Ricciardo with DRS, which Ocon's car could not take advantage of with the issue.
Speaking with the media, Ocon said: “I’m happy for the team to be able to score with both cars, but the order should be reversed on that occasion.
"I've always listened to the instructions I'm given. It was for no reason really, because we were not going to catch Daniel [Ricciardo]."
Pierre Gasly spoke about wanting to move on and focus on the double points finish instead of the squabble.
What's next?
As mentioned, Alpine have been hoping for a smoother start to the season. Big investment has been put into the team, but it seems to not have cemented itself on the race track.
It'll be even more difficult now to score points smoothly - especially when it means the drivers must work together. Ocon and Gasly have long been rivals ever since their karting days, where incidents between them were common.
Most knew that it would be an explosive pairing as both drivers hope to impress top teams after being in the midfield most of their careers. Ocon has also had a tendency to feud with his teammates over the years, most notably with Sergio Perez in Force India.
Speaking with ESPN, Ocon said that he'd be working "as usual" with the team. "I'm just trying to do the best I can with what I've got in hand," he says.
"That's not going to change. I've got a very close team around me with my engineers, my mechanics - all these guys, they are pushing day in, day out for me to perform."
He didn't mention Bruno Famin, Team Principal of Alpine, in his statements to the media. Many believe that this is because Famin was apoplectic after his drivers' collision in Monaco and is still sour with Esteban.
It's now a race for both Alpine and Ocon. Alpine are looking to continue with the development of their car, similar to how the RB cars have found speed recently.
Their weight disadvantage looks to be getting smaller, but Monaco's slow corners and a wet Canadian Grand Prix make seeing those improvements difficult.
They also don't have top worry about the driver market too much. Even if they do not find someone on the current grid, they have reserve driver Jack Doohan waiting in the wings. for such a troubled team, a smooth driver transition in Doohan would be welcome.
Ocon, however, is desperate to find another seat for 2025. Most believe that he'll either go to Haas and pair Ollie Bearman (allegedly) or go to Audi to race with Nico Hulkenberg.
Carlos Sainz is also in contention for the Audi seat, however, if he decides not to go to Williams. It would be an easy choice for the German marque between these drivers with one a multiple race winner.
We'll have to see how the all-French team work together in the next few races. Will it be a civil war? Quite possibly. Could Andretti just buy them after Renault gets too frustrated? Maybe.
