Why the Canadian Grand Prix will be challenging for Ocon

Following his collision with teammate Pierre Gasly in Monaco, Ocon retired from the race. This mean that he was unable to serve a penalty, and instead will be presented with a five-place grid penalty on Sunday. He will also miss the first free practice session, which instead will be conducted by reserve driver Jack Doohan. Speaking to GPblog and others in the paddock, Ocon addressed the claims that he was being punished by the team: "I've seen that a lot from the media. And it's not the case at all. As a team, we have to give two FP1s for rookies. I'm giving mine to Jack here. It's a track that's going to be green to start with. With the new tarmac, it's quite dirty at the moment. So things need to be cleaned up a little bit."

"My qualifying is a lot less dependent than usual. It's more the race trim. And as a team point of view, we think we're going to have probably a more competitive car later in the year. So for us to do that early is a good thing instead of doing it in Mexico or Abu Dhabi like we usually do," the Frenchman added. 

Will Ocon be sidelined?

The Alpine driver joined the team in 2020 when it was known as Renault. In 2021, he secured his maiden win in F1 with Alpine at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Last season, he gained a new teammate, Gasly, after Fernando Alonso moved to Aston Martin. Ocon and Gasly are known to have been former karting rivals, and have openly spoken about their lack of friendship. Ocon has denied claims that he is leaving the team as a consequence of his actions in Monaco.

Nevertheless, with him leaving the team, he was asked whether he expects his teammate to be given preferential treatment over the incoming upgrades he mentioned. "That's not a thing that will change. I had the first upgrades in the year in Shanghai. So naturally, he'll normally have the following one earlier. There's only one car that will have it. On the other side, no. There is care treatment that we are having. This is very important, you know, to us. And it's been discussed many times," he concluded.