Esteban Ocon says Alpine will need to improve consistency and fix reliability to maximise its F1 season and score well after missing out in 2023.
It was a strange F1 2023 season for Alpine’s Ocon who actually ended up behind teammate Pierre Gasly in the drivers’ standings. It was Gasly’s first year with the team and he managed to beat the now veteran, as reliability hit him hard.
Despite the podium finish, few retirements at crucial moments while running in points destroyed his chance to score well for the team. That lack of consistent run and troubles at key moments is what he wants to rectify in 2024 to achieve more.
“What’s more important is for us to be understanding of what has been happening this season. Quite a lot of ups and downs in terms of performance and in terms of pace,” said Ocon to media. “Consistency is what we need to get better, clearly. There were good opportunities that we took like Monaco, Las Vegas and stuff like that, but quite a lot we didn’t, like Singapore and Austin.
“If you take these two, we probably could have been in the top 10 in the Drivers’ Championship. It is worth what is worth. Clearly, it meant that we didn’t maximize the season. So it’s going to be important to fix all of those things for next year and start on top of it.
“I think there have been some very good things, some very good opportunities that we took, but the consistency overall hasn’t been there. We had too many DNFs. That has cost us. I think it’s nine [seven] DNFs almost in total, probably the most of any drivers,” summed up Ocon, who then elaborated on certain events where he thinks he lost out.
“If you remove the issue we have with the gearbox in Singapore, the contact with Oscar in Austin, we could have been in the top 10 in the championship, so that’s where it’s really a bit of a wasted opportunity,” continued Ocon. “If it was a weekend like Las Vegas, it would not be worth very much for us, because we were competitive.
“But on a track where we struggled that much, there is a lot for us to understand. If we can pick up something before next year, why that was, then it’s going to be a good thing. So that’s why the test was super important,” summed up Ocon.
Here’s Alpine taking Nicola Lacorte
Here’s Pierre Gasly on Franz Tost
Here’s Pierre Gasly talking about review re strategy
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
