Alpine issues response to Esteban Ocon’s ‘one car was quick’ complaint
Esteban Ocon wasn't happy with his pace in Las Vegas
Trounced by Pierre Gasly in qualifying in Las Vegas, Esteban Ocon decried that only “one” Alpine was quick and he “for sure” doesn’t believe that it is the car’s development that’s gone away from him.
After the high of the Brazilian Grand Prix in which the Alpine team-mates brought home a double podium with Ocon leading Gasly, it was a very different story in Las Vegas.
Esteban Ocon: It seems to not work at all on our side
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock
While Gasly qualified an impressive P3, Ocon wasn’t able to make it into the pole position, eliminated in 11th place in a Q2 session in which he was almost half a second down on his team-mate.
It didn’t get any better for the Frenchman in the Grand Prix as a calamitous pit stop saw Ocon drive through the pits as his mechanics weren’t ready for him. He finished down in 17th place and complained that his A524 wasn’t a match for Gasly’s car.
“One car, Pierre was quick since Austin,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com. “Unfortunately, we are not fast since Austin.
“That could cost us as well in the championship so yeah we need to figure out what exactly is going on and hopefully improve the situation for the next two. But yeah at the moment it seems difficult for us.”
Asked if he felt the car’s development had gone away from him, Ocon made it clear he “for sure” does not think that’s the problem.
“No, it’s clearly not that for sure,” he replied.
“We’re working with the team to try and improve the situation. But yeah, I mean, since Austin it seems to not work at all on our side, and we need to make sure that this is not the case anymore.”
F1 2024: Team-mate head-to-head stats
👉F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates
👉F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Alpine: From our side both cars the same
However, Alpine team boss Oliver Oakes was quick to shut down any suggestion of the team favouring Gasly over Ocon, who is off to Haas next season.
The new team principal insists both drivers have the “same” car with Alpine introducing a reworked front brake duct design in Las Vegas.
“Obviously I saw his comment,” said Oakes. “I think obviously afterwards he sort of meant he has sort of been a little bit off Pierre compared to where he’d like to be.
“But from our side both cars are the same, they’ve got the upgrade, which is something we’re going to keep looking into to make it more comfortable.”
“Drivers are always adamant. I think you can see it’s clearly been strong in the race pace. I think Pierre’s had the legs on him a little bit in the sort of qualifying. So I think that’s where he’s coming from.
“Really, we need to get him more comfortable. I think the positive is really even this weekend, to be fair, he was 10th away from Q3, and he had a very good race pace today. It was just a shame we made it tougher than it needed to be.”
He added: “We’ve ruled out everything on our side. I think also Austin, we only upgraded one car to also benchmark the two. So I think since then, we’ve been pretty comfortable they’re both the same.”
Alpine are seventh in the Constructors’ Championship after Brazil’s huge points-haul bolstered them in the standings only to drop one place to Haas in Las Vegas.
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