Alpine benching Esteban Ocon for Canadian GP under “serious consideration”

Alpine could decide to bench Esteban Ocon for the Canadian Grand Prix, according to Sky Sports News reporter Craig Slater.

This comes after Ocon collided with Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly on the opening lap of the Monaco Grand Prix.

While Gasly got away unscathed and was able to continue in the race, Ocon felt the wrath of Alpine boss Bruno Famin.

Famin suggested there could be “consequences” for Ocon, hinting they might decide to put him on the sidelines for the next race in Montreal.

Giving an update on the situation, Slater revealed that Alpine dropping Ocon for Canada is under “serious consideration” by Famin.

“Famin spoke angrily. He talked about taking a tough decision which everyone has interpreted as benching Esteban Ocon for the next race in Canada,” Slater explained. “What I can say to you is that that is still a serious consideration for the Alpine boss Bruno Famin.

“He will do what is best for the team but if he decides that leaving Esteban Ocon out for a week as a demonstration of how team discipline needs to be he is prepared to do that but that decision has yet to be taken.

“There were face to face meetings between Ocon and Famin after the grand prix. Ocon apologised privately and publicly afterwards via social media. Let’s see what happens.”

Another factor in play has been Ocon’s future.

Ocon has been linked with Audi and Haas in recent links as he explores options outside of Alpine.

Alpine started off the year as the slowest team but have slowly moved back up the grid in terms of competitiveness.

“What it does do is to call into question whether Ocon will continue beyond next year,” Slater added. “We all cast up the fact he was a childhood rival of the other Alpine driver Pierre Gasly and could the two happily co-exist in the same team? It’s another example of not co-existing happily.

“The other thing is, as far as most observers were concerned it was a needlessly optimistic attempt by Ocon to pass. It could have cost the team any points in the grand prix.”