Formula 1: Esteban Ocon confirms he is leaving Force India after 2018

Force India’s Esteban Ocon has confirmed that he will be leaving the team following the conclusion of the 2018 Formula 1 season.

Esteban Ocon, who is in his second season as a full-time Formula 1 driver driving for Racing Point Force India (previously Sahara Force India), has confirmed that he will be leaving the team once the 2018 Formula 1 season reaches its end following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of November.

The 21-year-old Frenchman revealed this in a recent discussion with four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel, who has driven for Scuderia Ferrari since the start of the 2015 season after spending one full season driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso and six full seasons driving for Red Bull Racing.

Here is how this discussion went down, according to WTF1.

"Vettel: Next year? Still nothing?Ocon: No.Vettel: Will you be here [at Force India]? No?Ocon: No, no. The seat is taken.Vettel: Oh yeah? Who?Ocon: Have a guess – the one who bought it!Vettel: Yes, but the other one?Ocon: Well, the other one [Sergio Perez] brings money."

It is clear that the “one who bought it” who Ocon is referring to is Williams Martini Racing’s Lance Stroll, who is also in his second season as a full-time Formula 1 driver. Stroll’s father Lawrence spent $80 million on a seat for his son at Williams last season, and he just led a consortium that purchased Force India and changed their name from Sahara Force India to Racing Point Force India.

Seeing as how Force India were in sixth place in the constructor standings before they surrendered the 59 points that they racked up through the season’s first 12 races upon being granted their official new entry, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that Stroll will be one of the team’s two drivers next year.

After all, Williams have by far the slowest cars in Formula 1. The only four points that they have earned so far this season came as a result of Stroll’s eighth place finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. There is almost no doubt that his father will put him in one of Force India’s two cars next year.

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It is believed that Ocon is be the driver who Stroll would replace at Force India next season given the fact that the team’s other driver, Sergio Perez, brings money to the table as well as the fact that his backers were the ones who sent the team into administration to protect them from the threat of a winding-up offer, which led to the purchase of the team by the Lawrence Stroll-led consortium.

That said, Ocon likely won’t have a problem finding another ride in Formula 1 assuming he opts to do so, which he should given how talented he is, but his apparent disappointment regarding the fact that he will be leaving Force India once the 2018 season concludes is understandable given the success that he has had there since the start of last season.

Ocon has been driving full-time for Force India ever since he raced in the final nine races of the 2016 season for Manor Racing MRT. He finished no higher than 12th place in any of those races.

In last season’s 20 races, Ocon racked up 18 top 10 finishes. He set an all-time record with 27 consecutive races to start his Formula 1 career without a retirement before he was forced to retire in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Of the 19 races he finished, he failed to score points in only one: the Monaco Grand Prix. He finished in 12th place in that race.

Ocon finished in eighth place in the driver standings last year. His best individual race finishes were fifth place finishes in the Spanish Grand Prix and the Mexican Grand Prix.

So far this season, Ocon sits in 12th place in the driver standings with six top 10 finishes, including two season-high sixth place finishes, in 12 races. He secured his two sixth place finishes in the Monaco Grand Prix and the Austrian Grand Prix. He has been forced to retire three times so far this year.

Ocon has been tipped as the replacement driver for Stoffel Vandoorne at McLaren starting next season assuming the team part ways with the 26-year-old Belgian, which many people expect them to do given the fact that he has underperformed throughout the majority of this season.

In fact, Vandoorne has scored just eight points in the season’s first 12 races, and he has not scored any points in the last eight races. Meanwhile, his teammate, two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, has racked up 44 points so far in 2018 and is in a battle to be the “best of the rest” driver behind the six Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing drivers.

Will Esteban Ocon return to Formula 1 in the 2019 season? If so, will he do so as a McLaren driver? If not, which team will he drive for next year?