Esteban Ocon says being out of contention for points is “the worst feeling you can have” following Alpine’s poor start to the season.
He is yet to score after finishing the first two races in 17th and 13th places.“It’s the worst feeling you can have,” said Ocon, who finished 12th in the championship with 58 points last year. “I honestly hate that when you do a good weekend and you are not able to enter the scoring points, there’s no reward for you in the end.”
Ocon admitted he finds it more of a challenge to go into a race weekend knowing he is likely to have nothing to show for it.
“It’s up to us to try and figure out and get more performance and get closer to these [other] cars,” he said. “But it is tough to go into a weekend and push as hard as you can, also mentally to be doing the maximum, knowing that there could be no reward in the end.
“But it’s part of the job. You need to do the best you can with what you have in hand and that’s why I’m here.”
He said Alpine’s situation reminded him of when he made his F1 debut with the struggling Manor team in the second half of 2016, although they are closer to the pace.
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“There’s a lot of small things that are not working the way we would like,” he said, “but the field is so tight at the moment that details, in the end, if you have many that are not right, make a huge difference.
Despite the team’s lack of points so far, Ocon said they remain motivated to turn their season around.
“Obviously where we are is not a situation that we are enjoying as a team,” he said. “I think none of us in Viry or Enstone is enjoying struggling that much in the weekends.
“It’s a long season and obviously we are working towards trying to optimise the car, understanding where our issues are to turn things around, hopefully. It’s more simple to say than to make it, so until we make it, it’s only words.
“But this is the aim that we have as a team and we are not going to release the pressure on that until we get there. That’s the aim out of everyone: The morale is good inside the team, everyone’s motivated and that’s the most important at the moment.”
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