“There's no point racing”: Esteban Ocon feels ‘it is possible’ for Alpine to replicate Aston Martin’s resurgence

Esteban Ocon believes there is "no point in racing" if his Alpine team does not feel they can outperform midfield opponent Aston Martin. After struggling in 2022, Aston Martin has been the surprise package in 2023's first three races, with Fernando Alonso earning three consecutive podiums in a substantially upgraded AMR23.

While the Silverstone team's growth has been a setback for every other team that has fallen down the pecking order, it has also demonstrated that it is still feasible to make a huge leap from one season to the next while staying inside the financial constraints.

When asked if Alpine could mimic Aston Martin's progress, Esteban Ocon stated:

"We have to in our mind think it is possible, otherwise there's no point racing. If you think about it, we finished the season in December and when we restarted it was end of February, beginning of March. So it's about three, four months."

He continued:

"I don't know if Aston would have been able to do so in-season but if you take three or four months, it's not the end of the season. Aston Martin has shown, and fair play to them, that it is possible to make a big step if you find the right things, so it is doable."

Alpine's development ambitions have encouraged Ocon, with the Enstone team bringing a significant upgrade to the next race in Baku at the end of April. Alpine was previously the fifth-fastest team overall, but they blew an opportunity to gain far more points in Melbourne when a late incident between Ocon and teammate Pierre Gasly resulted in no points for both drivers.

While the team's A523 challenger has no major flaws, Ocon believes that updating "a lot of details" would result in a significant performance.

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Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly are on good terms after a chaotic Australian Grand Prix.

Esteban Ocon claims he has "no hard feelings" with Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly, who has apologized for triggering their crash at the Australian Grand Prix. Gasly and Ocon crashed on the last restart of a race that saw three red lights and retired, having been fifth and tenth before the collision respectively.

The crash between Gasly and Ocon stopped Alpine from adding to their eight points from the Grand Prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, with Gasly particularly frustrated after finding himself in a "surprisingly" high place.

The drivers have previously said that they are not the greatest of friends due to a rivalry in their earlier racing days, but Ocon feels that their collision at Albert Park will be swiftly forgotten.