To state that Alpine had an abysmal British Grand Prix is an understatement. Having one car with enough penalties to line up in London, which subsequently had to withdraw after the formation lap due to gearbox issues was bad enough, but the other car then ending two laps down after fumbling the strategy took the proverbial cake.
Esteban Ocon was understandably not a happy chap when in the written media pen after his 16th place finish in Silverstone.
“There’s nothing brave about that race, everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. We took every wrong decision, from before the race to on the grid to during the race, every call or information were the wrong ones, so there’s not much more to say about this weekend.
“I think we just turn the page and we go again in Budapest, which is, you know, a very good track and we hope to be back to where we should be, but today it was a very difficult one.”
The Frenchman refused to comment on whether the soft tyre was a sensible choice in any circumstance, a very telling reaction for how Alpine has handled this weekend in his opinion.
“If we go in detail on that, basically, there were some drops of rain,” he started his explanation of the tactical fumble, which saw him make two pitstops in three laps.
“It started to get tricky in Turn 1-2 and I thought: ‘you know, if next lap it stays like this, it’s going to be wet.’
“So I asked the guys: ‘is it going to rain more?’ They said: ‘yes, it will rain more.’
“I said: ‘okay, so then we box if it rains more.’ They said okay. I exit [the pits], it’s bright sunshine. So at that point, I don’t know what to do, you know, it has not gone our way at all, it’s unbelievable.
“I’ve never seen something like this on my career, it’s been insane.”
The team was looking back on the way up after scoring points in each race from Monaco onwards, but the issues with Pierre Gasly’s car, who had already taken a 50-place grid penalty, meant the team was on the back foot from the get-go.
“It’s a gearbox issue, it’s a similar one to what we had earlier this year already,” Ocon explained. “So, to start, we lost a car, we had a car with penalties before the race and then, yeah, I mean, nothing went our way at all this race.
“For us to be able to fight with the other guys, we need to be perfect on every single decision, optimise the car setup, because otherwise we are outside the top ten.”
The pace previously shown in Monaco should provide for some optimism in Hungary next time out, but the former race winner in Budapest refused to be optimistic yet.
“So on a weekend like Budapest, we should have the capability to be fighting for good things, but there is no guarantee, because after this weekend, you know, it really shows that we need to do everything perfect, otherwise we are not there.”
Haas, one of Alpine’s competitors in the back of the field has seen a sudden resurgence with two consecutive sixth places, to the delight of Ocon. The former Mercedes junior is linked to the American team, but that didn’t stop him from making them an example for his current employer.
“It’s good to see that [they’re doing well]. They’ve been improving a lot, which is for sure an example for every other team how they are doing it at the moment.”
