Why There Could Be An Upside To Alpine Benching Esteban Ocon For The Canadian Grand Prix

As you may know, the Monaco Grand Prix got off to a wild start with three separate incidents happening before the first lap was even half over. The last of these — Alpine's Esteban Ocon's ill-advised attempt to dive bomb his teammate Pierre Gasly at Portier — has proven to be perhaps the most controversial, and there are even rumblings that the team might sideline Ocon for the next race in Canada.

And that might actually be a good idea.

The two battled throughout the first few corners of the race, but it came to a head with Ocon's lunge just before the tunnel.

That's not the first time Ocon and Gasly have clashed, it's not the first time Ocon and a teammate have gotten into it, and it's also not the first time Ocon has crashed into a teammate.

However, it was one of the most costly considering Alpine was in a position to possibly score points with both cars.

Team principal Bruno Famin was understandably irate over Ocon's move which forced his car to retire and damaged his teammate's (though Gasly did finish P10 to score a point).

"It’s sad, this kind of incident. It’s exactly what we didn’t want to see. And there will be appropriate consequences," Famin told France's Canal+, per F1's website.

Now, the question is what those consequences could be?

it's believed that it could be a benching for the Canadian Grand Prix, which would be a major step, but on top of sending Ocon a message, although, it seems like that message may have already been received.

Ocon accepted blame for the incident on X not too long after it happened.

Buuuuuuut…

Benching Esteban Ocon in Canada could give Alpine a chance to see what reserve driver Jack Doohan can do on a race weekend. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

An Ocon Benching Could Give Alpine A Chance To Kick The Tires On Academy Driver Jack Doohan

Ocon — who is a race winner having topped the podium at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix — needs a seat for next season. However, Alpine has had a solid junior program — Alpine Academy — over the years that has pumped out the likes of Oscar Piastri, Zhou Guanyu, and IndyCar driver Christian Lundgaard, none of whom ever drove for Alpine in F1.

So, right now, the team's top Academy driver is Jack Doohan who serves as Alpine's reserve driver. If Ocon gets benched, it stands to reason that Doohan would hop in the car, which would give the team a chance to see how he does as they consider who to sign for next season.

We saw Ollie Bearman deputized at Ferrari when Carlos Sainz had to get his appendix taken out in Saudi Arabia, and that drive put the young Ferrari Academy in line for a seat next season, potentially at Haas.

Alpine doesn't have much to lose by giving it a shot, aside from tarnishing the relationship with Ocon, however, that doesn't seem to be going well anyway.

It'll be really interesting to see how this all plays out, and I think there will be a lot of eyes on Ocon and Gasly the next time they're on track together.