Esteban Ocon reckons consistency has helped Alpine to stay ahead of a faster AlphaTauri in 2021 F1 season, considering they are scoring with both cars.
It isn’t just a battle at the top for first and second in 2021 F1 season, it is also well known and noticed that a serious scrap is developing for third and fourth also. Now, into the mix are Alpine and AlphaTauri. A seriously competitive battle should take place over the final five Grands Prix starting this weekend in Mexico.
Fact is, the gap between the two is just 10 points in favour of the French constructor, 104 vs 94, which got strengthened of course by the victory in Hungary, as agreed by Ocon himself. The stats are as follows:
- Alpine have had 21 Top 10s to AlphaTauri’s 16 among two drivers.
- Alpine had also six races where both drivers have finished together in the Top 10 to AlphaTauri’s four.
At AlphaTauri, Pierre Gasly is taking the lead with rookie Yuki Tsunoda. Alpine have the massively experienced Fernando Alonso paired with fairly experienced Ocon. There is closeness at the French F1 team between their line-up while the Italian team who are of course Red Bull’s sister team, have a slight gap between their drivers in terms of experience and for this season Tsunoda is learning his craft.
In terms of qualifying and speed AlphaTauri have shaded this area, but it is race day that counts. Ocon reckons it is the consistency factor that has helped Alpine to stay ahead in the fight, even though they don’t have a car faster than the Italian team. “I think we know that we are not as fast as them, clearly,” he said to written media.
“It’s been the case that we have been scoring with both cars and that made the difference. We are scoring two, three, one point each time with two cars, we are capable of going into the Top 10, that is what made the difference. Obviously our strong weekend in Budapest has made us also be in that position.
“Anything we can do is focus on ourselves and try and do the best job that we can. On paper we can’t beat them but we are pushing to get both cars into the points each time and try to be consistent there. Of course we didn’t score at COTA, but we scored 15 times in a row as a team, so that’s stronger than them on paper.
“And that’s how we should keep going,” summed up Ocon, who hopes that Mexico will see them return to points. “The aim is to be in the points, we will prepare well,” he said. “Obviously the Mexican circuit is very different characteristics, very different tarmac, a lot more smooth. There is no reason why we can’t get back into a good rhythm and good performance and I’m sure we are going to be back in form pretty soon.”
The key issue as per comments from Ocon is that Alpine had been very consistent and are working as a team after at times a lean period earlier in the season. Alonso concurs with his teammate and hopes that Alpine can bounce back in Mexico.
“Hopefully, we can still find some answers,” said Alonso. “As I said before, I think on the race, the car was much better, I felt more competitive, definitely I was faster than Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, and Even Tsunoda, so in free practice, we were not as quick as we were today, so it was a nice step forward in the race, what I felt.
“But they’re still not as good as Sochi or Turkey, so we need to keep analysing probably the bumps. The suspension is very specific what you run here in Austin, because the characteristics of this circuit, so it’s something that we didn’t get it right, and we will try to analyse and be in our top form in Mexico.”
The 10 points gap could be whittled away in the blink of an eye and that is the issue. Alpine were unlucky at COTA and for the first time since Bahrain, they scored zero points. It is their consistency that has them fifth despite knowing AlphaTauri have a faster car.
The story was written by Neil Farell
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