Esteban Ocon has insisted that he’s returning to how he worked in 2022 next season after finishing behind Pierre Gasly in the Drivers’ Championship, something he’s referred to as “war mode”.
Whilst they were childhood friends, Ocon and Gasly became rivals towards the end of their junior careers, raising concerns if Alpine signing Gasly was a smart decision.
Gasly himself has admitted that he wasn’t sure how Ocon would work with him, something he admits he was a “little worried about”.
However, the duo have formed a strong working relationship, even though Gasly is more than aware that his teammate won’t be inviting him to dinner anytime soon.
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The ex-AlphaTauri driver claimed top honours over Ocon in 2023, after finishing one place and four points ahead.
This has motivated Ocon to work harder next season, after recognising that Alpine have made him work in a different way this year.
Ocon was in many ways unfortunate to finish behind Gasly, as he retired from seven of the 22 completed races.
Despite retiring more than he would’ve liked, Ocon still had two stand out drives in 2023, his Monaco Grand Prix podium and his sensational recovery from 16th to fourth at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
He’s planning on using these two races as motivation to get back into full “training camp” on January 2, where his focus will be on “no life, flat out, only racing”.
“From January 2 until the first test I will be back fully into training camp,” Ocon said, as per the Mirror.
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“I’m going to be more doing the way I was doing it in 2022, which is no life, flat out, only racing. We’ve been doing a lot of different things and activations outside the track this year.
“That’s going to change next year. It’s back to war mode and fully focused on the racing side. Before that there’s going be the Christmas party of the team, there’s going be some simulator work.
“I’m going be able to have a couple of days seeing my family that I haven’t seen for a while. We’re going to have some good times with friends, with Mick [Schumacher], with all my friends in December as well, and then it’s fully focused on next year.”