Esteban Ocon is eager for Alpine to make changes to his car – potentially including a chassis replacement – in response to his recent slump in results.
Having regularly reached Q3 in the opening races, Ocon dropped out in Q1 at both rounds in Austria. Meanwhile team mate Fernando Alonso was on course for his fourth consecutive appearance in Q3 last weekend until he was blocked on his final run in Q2.Ocon said after Saturday’s qualifying session there was little indication why he was more than half a second slower than Alonso over the shortest lap time on the calendar.
“The balance felt actually fine,” he said. “Once I finished a lap, I felt like it was a good lap on that second of Q1 and I was pretty pleased with how it went. Maybe half a tenth I could have gained, but that’s all about it, to be fair.
“So that’s where it starts to be difficult when you don’t spot exactly what the issue is and then the lap time deficit is so big on such a small track. So we need to keep digging in and keep staying together to go through this period as quickly as possible.”
His race lasted two corners before a collision left his car terminally damaged. Ocon said his team will use the two-week gap to the next race at Silverstone to make swap parts on his car to eliminate any potential problems.
“We’ll start as fresh as we can be, because obviously the deficit and the performance that we had was not good enough this weekend and last weekend,” he said.
A complete change of chassis has not been ruled out, said Ocon. “The maximum possible would be very welcome,” he said.
“I will have a chat with the team and see what’s possible to do. But the more things we can change, the better it would be. Then it’s one doubt less.”
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IVAYLO
7th July 2021, 7:32
I think the area he should look at is positioned between the steering wheel and the back of the seat.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th July 2021, 8:15
@IVAYLO Too early for this type of conclusion.
Antilochos
7th July 2021, 12:31
Why too early?
How long is this kid already in F1. And he still never has been impressive. The kid is far overrated and there is a reason Mercedes let him go (they get also all the data to compare).
Saying he wants to change as much possible, but doesn’t have any clue what was wrong or what is needed to change, says enough.
He is lucky Alonso only got into form with the car after Ocon signed a new two year deal.
Patrick (@paeschli)
7th July 2021, 15:05
He lost like 4 tenths on Alonso in the two first corners of the Red Bull Ring. That’s not normal after having such a great start to the season.
Sviat
7th July 2021, 16:50
@paeschli – you can easily lose even more if you miss the apex, which is more due to driver error than the car. Especially in this case, when Ocon says he was happy with his Alpine.
Denis (@denis1304)
7th July 2021, 8:31
Just as long as it isn’t because team is setting up and develop car only from Alonso’s feedback and ignoring his. But I bet some are thinking it is the case.
Valinor
7th July 2021, 11:50
Was waiting for someone to bring this up.
In this case it wouldn’t make sense at all because:
– This car is an evolution of last years car which was Ocons
– The car has been developed with Ocons (and Ricciardos) racedata from last year so its basically Ocons car.
– Development focus is on next years car. The new parts/updates are only small updates that shouldnt have a big impact on the cars performance aka Alonsos influence is little.
– It happened after he signed the contract, could be mentally.
Denis (@denis1304)
7th July 2021, 12:09
I agree and hope Ocon gets his mojo back ASAP.
Artis
7th July 2021, 15:45
I do not believe these focus shift claims. The year is 2021 we live in. There is now time to score and keep investors happy. Letting go the current year would be ridiculous. Teams just use this as an excuse. They are working as much as possible in parallel for current and next year.
TurboBT
7th July 2021, 8:55
I just believe Alonso got his touch back and is comfortable with the car, and him gaining positions at the start is only doing him favor. Alo would be much better than Seb in AMR.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
7th July 2021, 9:55
I think there’s more than that, ocon was generally good when alonso struggled, if it was just alonso is now comfortable, then ocon should also be in the points.
Valinor
7th July 2021, 11:54
Could be mentally. Him signing the contract made him relax too much and at the same time Alonso finding his speed put unexpected pressure on his shoulders again.
Honestly cant blame the car seeing how the focus is on next years car and this years car is basically an evolution of last years aka its Ocons car.
Patrick (@paeschli)
7th July 2021, 15:07
That would explain Alonso moving up the order, but not Ocon moving back relative to the other teams.
Dave
7th July 2021, 10:36
But it’s just not easy with Fernando. It never is.
F-Duct (@)
7th July 2021, 13:34
I’m sure Sky had his Q1 lap on the skypad and showed that he was missing apex’s all over the place and was 2 tenths down to alonso by turn 3, so I’m not sure how he thinks he had a good lap
F-Duct (@)
9th July 2021, 9:12
I’ve actually looked more into this and the difference to Alonso almost entirely is down to top speed on the straight, particularly in 7th/8th gear where Alonso is over 10kph faster. Apparently this is down to the Alpine’s cooling being compromised by Ocon’s height, so it either reduces the engine power or they have to account for this and provide extra cooling which affects aero/drag. This is also more apparent in hotter conditions like the ones the last few races.
Manto
7th July 2021, 15:03
What a deal for Alpin until 2024. Best deal ever