Strategy, settings, pace: Ocon wonders after one of his 'most difficult GP in F1'

Since his victory in Hungary, Esteban Ocon has had a difficult time. He scored, in this second half of the season, from Spa, only 5 points against 20 for Fernando Alonso. Still in Russia, the Alpine rider was trapped by the conditions of qualifying, finishing 1.6 seconds behind his teammate. In the race, it was not much better since Ocon could not take advantage of the rain to finish in the points: he failed 8 places further than Fernando Alonso (14th).

Today it is with lucidity and realism that Ocon evokes “probably one of my most difficult Sundays” of his career.

Was there nothing to save from this weekend in Sochi?

“The positive point was the start and the first two laps, it was pretty good. I gained some ground at the start and we managed to stay in a good position for the first two laps, but after that it was quite tricky in terms of the pace. “

” We were losing a lot of time lap by lap and we were losing ground on the front car, without being able to attack or defend against none of them to be honest. »

Among the things to review at Alpine is the strategy: because Ocon was 10th before the rain fell. What went wrong with Alpine (since Fernando Alonso also was slow to return to the pits)?

“It was risky to return to the pits, but also risky to stay on the track like we did. It was supposed to rain like it did for the first two laps, so for the first two laps the conditions were similar, and then there was supposed to be a little break in the rain, but it actually rained more. It was clearly a mistake on our part too. “

” So it was not the most successful race in terms of pace, in terms of decisions, also in qualifying we didn’t not everything optimized for the best, so there is a lot that we can revisit to make it better the next few times. »

What if the settings were the cause of Ocon’s bad weekend? Because unlike the last Grands Prix, Ocon adopted different settings from those of the Spaniard …

“The cars were very similar in terms of settings in the last three or four races – almost identical – but there was a lot of discrepancy in this race and we don’t have the same comments anymore in Russia. We have some ideas on what that might be, and we’re looking to fix it for the next race. “

” There is no particular reason. I feel good behind the wheel, as I felt good in Monza or Zandvoort in the same way. So there is no particular reason on my side. »

« We have a lot of things to review, a lot of work to do before arriving in Turkey, but we will find what was wrong with this race and come back stronger see you next time. »