Esteban Ocon Buries Rivalry With Pierre Gasly to Unite Against Money Minded FIA in Their Bid to Revive Dying “Mission”

A French team with an all-French line-up doesn’t have a home GP to race at this season. When Fernando Alonso decided to leave Alpine at the end of 2022, the team signed Pierre Gasly to race alongside Esteban Ocon in 2023. And while this was happening, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and the FIA decided not to renew the French GP for this season. Provided, Circuit Paul Ricard is one of the least entertaining tracks on the calendar, but this decision came as a gut punch for the Enstone team.

While Esteban Ocon and Co. weren’t thrilled about the French GP being canceled, F1 fans haven’t objected much. But for F1 drivers, getting to race in their country is a matter of pride, which is why Ocon believes that getting the French GP back on the calendar is a mission the team needs to work toward.

Formula 1, like any other business, is money-minded. It aims to profit as much as it can from its tour around the world every year. And the French GP wasn’t doing much to add to its profits ever since it was reintroduced in 2018 at Paul Ricard. So when the FIA had to fit races at Las Vegas and Qatar into the calendar, it did so by removing the French GP.

In a recent interview, as reported by Soymotor.com, Ocon revealed how he felt about a trip to France not being on F1’s itinerary for 2023. He said, “It’s not normal that we don’t have a French GP this year.”

The French GP was one of the oldest races on the calendar, and it was a race the French team was looking forward to racing this year with their Normandy-native drivers. It is a well-known fact that Esteban and Pierre haven’t had the smoothest of relationships. They’ve had their ups and downs, considering they’ve known each other their entire racing careers, ever since they were karting.

But they both believe they must put their past aside and work toward giving themselves and French F1 fans what they want—a race in France. “The more weight we have in Formula 1, the more successful we will be in our mission to return.”

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While Esteban and Pierre might not mind racing anywhere in France, F1 fans might want to see a circuit other than Paul Ricard. But is there even a possibility that F1 will return to France?

Will the French GP return to the calendar?

When the decision to discontinue the French GP was made, Domenicali said there was a possibility of having races on a rotational basis, by which he meant that specific venues in the calendar would be swapped with circuits that weren’t on the calendar the previous season. While this might give Ocon and Co. hope, it isn’t guaranteed that the French GP will return permanently to the calendar.

Domenicali also talked about other places in France interested in hosting the French GP. He said, as quoted by L’Équipe, “There is an amazing project with Nice, who wants a Grand Prix. It’s great, as it proves that other destinations in [France] are interested in F1.”

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Ocon, Gasly, and Alpine’s mission are just getting started, and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out, given that the ultimate decision still lies in the money-minded hands of the FIA.