Esteban Ocon's visit to Williams Racing gets detected by Alpine car's GPS: Reports

According to Marcin Budkowski, "everyone" at Alpine discovered that Esteban Ocon had visited F1 rivals Williams using GPS data from his company car. After Alpine announced in June that they would be splitting up at the end of the 2024 season, Ocon signed with Haas. As the team considered its options for future drivers, Williams manager James Vowles disclosed in July that Ocon had traveled to Grove for a seat fit.

Budkowski, a former executive director of Alpine who left the French team in 2022, has stated that Esteban Ocon was at Williams according to GPS data on his private car. Budkowski reportedly told Viaplay Poland, "He drove an Alpine that was lent to him as a company car when he was in Enstone before the Silverstone race."

However, these cars have GPS and trackers. It turned out that during Esteban's visit to Great Britain, his Alpine car was parked in Williams' parking lot for five hours. This is how the Alpine staff learned that Esteban was there for half a day. Vowles told Autosport at the Hungarian Grand Prix last year that Williams had been considering Ocon for a possible 2025 or 2026 driving.

Willams signed Carlos Sainz

Following Carlos Sainz’s departure from Ferrari to make room for Lewis Hamilton who left Mercedes after 12 years. Williams eventually signed Sainz on a multi-year contract. James Vowles said at the time Ocon would not likely be a future option for Williams and that he would team up with F1 rookie Oliver Bearman to form a new-look lineup at Haas in 2025.

However, Ocon and Williams couldn’t agree on terms so the 28-yard-old will instead race for Haas in 2025. This week, Ocon and the small American team are stepping up their season by testing a 2023 car in Jerez with the help of new technical partner Toyota.