"We were faster than what the car could do": Esteban Ocon plays down Alpine's P13 finish in Jeddah

Esteban Ocon believes he pushed the Alpine car beyond its ability at the 2024 Saudi Arabian GP. Despite the thirteenth-place finish in the Saudi Arabian GP, the Frenchman felt optimistic about finishing solutions to his car.

Alpine were only able to have one of their cars finish the race which was that of Esteban Ocon, as Pierre Gasly suffered a gearbox issue and retired from the race. The 13th place finisher felt that the pace they had was not enough to finish in the points and the battles through the race did not help either.

Since the preseason test in Bahrain, Alpine looked like they were on the back foot and at the back of the field in terms of pace. With little room to overtake in Jeddah, the 27-year-old was stuck in a DRS train as Kevin Magnussen backed him and others into a pack.

Speaking to media including Sportskeeda after the race, Esteban Ocon said:

“I think an opportunistic race, that's how we should call it. I think we were up to P10 at some point virtually because Kevin had the penalty. We navigated our way through and fought our way through and there were a lot of battles. But in the end, it was just not enough. We were up to a point that we couldn't keep. We were faster than what the car could do in the end, and we went backwards towards the end.”

“So it's very clear what we need to improve for the next races now. Racing more with the other guys it was easier to spot than in Bahrain. We're going to keep digging, keep pushing, and I'm going to be in the factory [this week]. So I'm going to keep pushing to find solutions with the guys.”

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Esteban Ocon believes there are lot of improvements for Alpine to make

Evaluating their performance in Saudi Arabia, Esteban Ocon felt it was better than Bahrain. However, the Frenchman believes Alpine have a lot to improve as they found it difficult to fight.

With little room to overtake, he felt that the Saudi circuit made it easy for them to finish further in the second half of the grid. However, the former Racing Point driver believes that if they were to be on a conventional circuit with room for overtaking, they would be struggling.

Explaining the lack of performance in their car, Esteban Ocon said:

“In comparison to Bahrain, I think here there were quite a few things that we spotted, that we can improve. But there is a lot to improve still, and we are aware of it. I couldn't really fight. It's quite a big statement to say that we could fight. We managed to get in front of them somehow, but on a normal circuit, I think, with normal situations, and no fighting, we are still behind.”

In Bahrain, Esteban Ocon finished 17th and his teammate finished 18th on the grid. In qualifying, both drivers were on the last row of the grid in 19th and 20th respectively. In Jeddah, the Alpine duo qualified 17th and 18th. From their performance, it is clearly understood that they lack pace both around a lap and in race trims.

The former Force India driver has out-qualified his teammate since the beginning of the season but acknowledged the amount of work ahead for the team. The French team is yet to score points in the season along with Alfa Romeo, Williams, and RB. At the moment they have been eclipsed by Haas, who managed a points finish with Nico Hulkenberg finishing tenth.