While Alpine has gotten off to a slow start, Esteban Ocon is staying positive ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
It has certainly been a difficult and “challenging” start to the 2024 Formula 1 season at Alpine. Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly started at the back of the field in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, and only picked up a few spots due to struggles with Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant. However, they finished outside the points and the A524, the team’s challenger for the 2024 season, looks to be behind the pack.
Now changes have come to the team, with Alpine announcing this week a reorganization of their technical team, along with the departures of both Technical Director Matt Harman, and Head of Aerodynamics Dirk de Beer. Going forward the team will utilize a three-pronged approach with newly-created specialised technical roles: Technical Director (Performance), Technical Director (Aerodynamics) and Technical Director (Engineering). All three will report to Team Principal Bruno Famin.
Despite the early struggles, the team and its drivers are maintaining a positive attitude. That includes Ocon, who helped preview this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In addition to bringing viewers along on a virtual lap around Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Ocon shared his thoughts on Bahrain, as well as his outlook for the season ahead.
“We knew that going into Bahrain with a completely new car it would be challenging, and that ultimately proved to be the case with where the two cars ended up at the finish line. The race itself was relatively uneventful from our side and we could not really do much more from where we started and the pace we had,” said Ocon in the team’s media preview. “We have to put this race behind us and try to react quickly. We know there’s no miracles in this sport and it will take time to remedy the situation. But I know the whole team is working extremely hard and are motivated to turn things around.”
“The good thing in Bahrain is we had a clean race and it was important to gather lots of data. With the back-to-back there’s not much time between races, so we need to delve into the data and see what learnings we can already bring for Jeddah,” added Ocon. “Now that we have a full race under our belt, it’s useful to review the comparison with other teams and analyse [tire] performance. It was extremely close in [qualifying] last time out - less than 0.150secs from Q2 - so hopefully we can be closer to the others this weekend in Jeddah.”
As for the track in Saudi Arabia, Ocon is looking forward to the demands of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. You can ride along with Ocon on a virtual lap here:
Ocon shared his thoughts on Jeddah in the preview as well.
“The circuit in Jeddah is a fun track to drive. It’s very fast and very physical, and being a street track it also demands a lot of concentration for the full race distance,” described Ocon. “Also, the track surface combined with the [tire] compounds usually leads to low degradation, which means the race becomes more of a sprint than a marathon. This, combined with the high-speed nature of the track, the Jeddah circuit is a really good test of the physical preparation we’ve put in over the winter. It will be interesting to see how the A524 reacts on a different layout and hopefully we fare better than in Bahrain.”
The Alpine driver has enjoyed success in Jeddah over his career. In the three races held at Jeddah Corniche Circuit Ocon — as well as Gasly — has finished in the points every time. As Alpine noted in their media preview, “[b]oth Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon have a 100% point-scoring record in the three Jeddah F1 races held so far. Ferrari are the only other team on the grid this weekend to boast two drivers with such a record.”
As noted by the team, Ocon is one of just six drivers in F1 history to have a led a Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, doing so in the inaugural 2021 race. He missed out on a podium that year by just 0.102 seconds, settling for a fourth-place finish after starting ninth.
Saturday will also mark a milestone for Ocon, as it will be the 135th grand prix start of his career, making him one of the 50 most-experienced drivers in F1 history:
As the lights go out for the #SaudiArabianGP , @OconEsteban will become one of the fifty most-experienced drivers in @F1 history pic.twitter.com/IjKRUgNul0
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) March 5, 2024
The circuit in Saudi Arabia will roar to life on Thursday, with the first of two practice sessions. Hopefully for Alpine they can start moving forward on the grid with some improvements this weekend.
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