Esteban Ocon starts P11 for the Las Vegas GP but has been left to ponder a lack of car pace from his A524 in the last four rounds.
Since they became teammates at the start of 2023, Ocon and Gasly have been one of the most evenly matched duos on the grid.
However, since outqualifying Pierre Gasly in Singapore, Ocon has been nowhere near the 2020 Italian GP winner in dry conditions.
Generally he has been 0-3-0.5s a lap slower over a lap, an unusually big gap between them.
Speaking after qualifying, the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix victor went into details on his issues and why he has a deficit to his fierce rival, with Gasly starting on the second row.
Ocon happy with lap but lacking fundamental pace compared to Gasly
“No, to be fair, I was quite happy with my lap.
“It’s been a difficult weekend and it’s been difficult weekends since Austin, really. I think we are missing between half a second to 7 tenths since Austin.
“And we are trying to do our best with my side of the garage, trying to figure out what issues there are with the car.
“It’s difficult for us to carry the minimum speed and to get out of corners. I just have a lot of wheelspin, basically, in comparison to Pierre.
“As I said, it was a well-driven lap, I felt, because we were much further away. I don’t think we did better than a P14 in practice.
“I hope that tomorrow it’s going to be very extreme in terms of conditions. It’s going to be more relying on tyre degradation than car pace.
“Because at the moment, on pure car pace, we are struggling to get inside the top ten.
“If it is more relying on the tyres, then we have more of an opportunity to do something better.”
Issues since Austin and trying to fix them
Despite the best efforts of the team, no fix has been made to Ocon’s problems with the car.
As Gasly has been making Q3 and scoring points, the 28-year-old had been struggling to get out of Q1 and score points, aside from his brilliant Sunday in the wet in Brazil when he finished P2.
“Since Austin, it’s quite clear where the issues are.
“We are struggling to fix it. But it’s not for lack of trying. The whole team is trying to figure it out.
“We are pushing together to improve the situation. It is not working as of right now.
“I hope that we will find it for the rest of the season.”
Hoping for a repeat of 2023
In the 2023 Las Vegas GP, Ocon went from 17th on the grid to finish a superb P4, carving his way through the field on race day.
As the track is offering very little grip, Ocon is hoping to take advantage of that despite his current problems.
“It’s not easy, but as I said, the more extreme it is, the better it is. You can get more opportunities.
“It’s less down to the car, more down to tyre prep and keeping the tyres alive and stuff.
“I slide quite a lot, so I hope that tomorrow I’m not going to destroy the tyres.
“But it worked well for us last year. I hope that we can repeat that.”
Slightly better in Las Vegas
Asked if the issues with traction are an even bigger issue in Las Vegas due to the cold conditions, Ocon said it’s not as bad this weekend, referencing how far off he was in Interlagos in the dry on Friday and Saturday morning in the Sprint.
He was 0.4s slower than Gasly in SQ1 as he got knocked out, and the gap was 16s at the end of the Sprint.
“I think it’s difficult everywhere.
“Interlagos was quite warm on Friday and Saturday. I was about 7 tenths off every lap. Even more on the long run, it was more like 1 second.
“In here, it seems a little bit less, the deficit. More half a second, I would say.
“But we’ll see if we can fix that for the next races.
“And hopefully tomorrow we’ll hide behind the tyre degradation, as I said.”
Getting equal treatment?
The 4-time podium finisher is heading into his last three events with Alpine after five seasons together. Ocon moves to Haas in 2025.
Asked directly if he thinks he’s getting fair treatment in the last couple of months as an Alpine driver as people tend to get frozen out at times when leaving for another squad, Ocon hopes that is the case.
“I hope so.
“I’ve spent five years with this team, giving it everything. I’m still giving it everything.
“I hope that it is the case, definitely.”
