For the first time in the 2024 season, the BWT Alpine will see both drivers start the race in the top 10 with Pierre Gasly qualifying seventh, and Esteban Ocon in ninth. The French teammates will, however, line up alongside each other on Sunday’s starting grid, as Ocon will inherit Red Bull’s Sergio Perez’s P8 as a result of the Mexican’s three-place grid penalty carried over from the Canadian Grand Prix.
Speaking after the qualifying session, Ocon described the result as “super positive” but admitted that it has been unexpected as he had anticipated that the team would struggle like they have been throughout the season.
From Friday it seemed clear they would be stronger than normal. Both drivers backed it up on Saturday afternoon.
“Obviously, super positive result. To be in Q3 is something that we didn’t see really coming. I think, I said, before the weekend, [that] we would struggle to get out of Q1 and we are in Q3, in the top 10 for the race tomorrow. So, very unexpected, I would say.”
The Alpine driver acknowledged that the car had performed well throughout the weekend and stated that the good performance was a sign that the team still has a lot of work to do to understand the car, especially with the variance in performance at different venues.
Ocon also addressed the weight issues that the team had been experiencing with the cars, stating that both he and Gasly were “on the weight” this weekend.
“And the car performed well from FP1, which shows that we have a lot to understand [with] the car. And even if we don’t necessarily bring to upgrades to every race, it’s clearly slowly getting better with what we’re doing in terms of understanding but, yeah, still much more to understand.
“Also, across cars [because] behaviours were very different across cars, and that’s a good thing but yeah… The positive thing is that we’re both on the weight this weekend so that’s another solid drop by the team.
“But yeah, we’ll keep digging and hopefully [we’ll] understand why it went so good, and why it doesn’t go so well in other tracks.”
Ocon also spoke about whether he thought that any adjustments could be made to bring Alpine’s performance closer to that of the other teams.
He stated that while he did have some idea of the causes behind their improved performance in Spain, they were track-dependent, and would limit the consistency of the team’s performance.
However, he does believe that the car will perform well over the next few tracks.
“I [have] got a small idea, yeah, on what it is. Unfortunately, it is very track dependent, and we are, [if] it’s what I’m thinking of, you know, we’re not going to be able to have that performance everywhere. But the next couple tracks, we should be okay.
The Frenchman was also asked about whether there would be any issues with him starting next to his teammate.
“It should be fine,” Ocon assures, stating that on-track issues between him and Gasly, such as that which occurred in the Monaco Grand Prix were rare.
“How many times have we started together? It has happened once every thirty times. I don’t expect anything tomorrow. It should be fine.
Ocon also spoke about the presence of Luca de Meo, CEO of the Renault Group which supplies the engines, at Alpine during the race weekend.
The Frenchman acknowledged de Meo’s importance to the Alpine F1 program and described de Meo’s love for the sport. He stated that, although his future beyond 2024 would not be at Alpine, he was happy to see de Meo fully on board with the project.
“Yeah, Luca is very important to the Formula 1 program. He has been for years.
“He was in Le Mans as well, so motorsport is his roots. He loves it. He’s a big fan of it so obviously, yeah, it’s good to see him [fully] on board [with] the project.”
The Renault Group CEO’s presence at Alpine comes only a day after it was announced that the former Benetton and Renault boss would be returning to Formula 1 as an executive advisor to de Meo.
When asked if he had had the opportunity to speak to Briatore over the weekend, Ocon stated that he had on Friday, and added that he saw Briatore’s previous experience in Formula 1 as an asset.
“Yes, I met him yesterday [Friday]. [I] spoke to him a little bit and, yeah, obviously he has a lot of experience from Formula 1, so [that’s] good.”
