“Formula 1 is unpredictable” - Esteban Ocon hopeful of many more podiums for Alpine after an ‘awesome’ weekend in Monaco

Esteban Ocon believes F1 can be unpredictable at times after clinching a podium at the 2023 Monaco GP. Speaking in the post-race press conference, the Frenchman hoped for more podiums for Alpine in the future.

Commenting on the morale boost his podium gives to the team, the Alpine driver stated:

“Why, everyone's delighted, that's for sure. Formula 1 is unpredictable. You don't know what's going to happen and at the moment, how tight the field is, a little bit more pace can change your weekend completely. And, and yeah, this weekend, it's been an awesome one, an awesome preparation and yeah, as I keep saying, we keep pushing, we don't stop believing and hopefully, that's the first podium of many.”

Esteban Ocon clinched the first podium for Alpine after Fernando Alonso’s podium at the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix. The 2022 season witnessed the French manufacturer battle McLaren for fourth place in the constructors’ championship.

After losing star driver Alonso to Aston Martin and reserve driver Oscar Piastri to McLaren in the musical chairs of F1 last year, the Monaco GP podium is their first taste of success.

When Pierre Gasly spoke to Sportskeeda at the Saudi Arabian GP weekend, the Frenchman did outline the team’s plans to be fighting at the front at some point this year. While the development has been a slow growth curve, Ocon’s podium is definitely a morale booster for the team and their efforts.

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Esteban Ocon feels Aston Martin are an inspiration for midfield teams

Witnessing his former Alpine teammate Alonso’s success at Aston Martin, Esteban Ocon believes the Silverstone team is an inspiration to midfield teams.

Asked if he envied Alonso and Aston Martin’s success, Esteban Ocon replied:

"I think, big respect to Aston Martin for what they are doing. I think they've shown really the way that this is possible, to go from the midfield to be a top team and we should all take [inspiration from] example of that."

The Frenchman claims Alpine updates gave him more confidence with his car at the Monaco GP. The 26-year-old feels that it remains to be seen where they are in the pecking order on a circuit like Spain.

“We will see next week. I think it's a very different track in terms of characteristic here but clearly the car fell more alive and I had a lot more confidence in it to start the weekend. So, we did bring some updates that were supposed to be quite small but everything we had, it goes in the right direction today.

"Yeah, it definitely felt good and I hope that this is the start of something, but I think we need to keep our feet to the ground, see where we are next weekend. It’s going to be a good test. And then yeah, we'll see."

Alpine and Esteban Ocon’s last victory was at the 2021 Hungarian GP and they are yet to replicate that success with the new generation F1 cars. With an all-French driver lineup and two feisty drivers, the team is looking ahead to better days and overcoming their performance struggles.

However, the midfield bunching up means every tenth counts and every tiny mistake will cost them.