Esteban Ocon has hinted that he’d like to participate in the 24 Hours of Le Mans one day, following the unveiling of the new Alpine A424 hypercar alongside its new Formula 1 car earlier this week.
The brand will compete in both Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship this year, being the only other brand besides Ferrari to have a full presence on both grids.
When asked whether he’d be interested in sampling Alpine’s other top-level offering, Ocon said the car looked “mega” and opened the door to participating at Le Mans should the opportunity arise in future, and hinted that he might not be the only one.
“The focus is always 2000 percent on Formula 1, but I think as soon as one F1 driver will do Le Mans while the F1 season is going, many more drivers will do so, and I’m waiting for that moment to see what happens,” he said.
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The last full time F1 driver to compete at Le Mans was Nico Hulkenberg in 2015. While competing for Force India, Hulkenberg raced at the Six Hours of Spa and Le Mans for Porsche alongside Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber, winning the latter.
While no current F1 drivers will participate at Le Mans this year, there will be plenty of recent F1 talent on the grid, including 2023 Le Mans winner Antonio Giovinazzi (Ferrari), Nyck de Vries (Toyota), and Mick Schumacher who will be making his debut in the World Endurance Championship for Alpine.
“It’s fantastic for the Alpine endurance team to have Mick,” Ocon said of Schumacher joining the Alpine family. “I think he’s bringing a lot of experience, expertise, and he’s obviously a very talented driver in general and I really hope that they are going to be winning Le Mans this year.”
Ocon also mentioned his desire to get Schumacher back into F1, saying, “I’ll be supporting, cheering for them and I hope to see Mick in Formula 1 in the near future again.”