Esteban Ocon has admitted that Alpine must improve its race pace to match its one-lap speed despite bagging the team’s first point in 2024 in the Miami Grand Prix.
The Anglo-French marque has regressed this season as it has combated an overweight and underdeveloped A524 car, which has been derived from a new concept.
But having introduced updates to reduce the excessive bulk it has carried since the beginning of this season, Ocon battled hard to a strong 10-place finish in Miami.
The Frenchman believes that his single point represented a good reward for the Enstone-based squad and will provide a boost for the team to maintain progression.
“It’s only a top 10, but considering where we were a couple of races ago in Bahrain, 19th and 20th, I think, we can take the positive out of this race,” Ocon said.
“And the baby steps that we are doing at the moment and that obviously feels good because the team kept motivated, kept trying to understand what is going on with our pace and hasn’t been the smoothest weekend, I would say,.
“But, you know, it’s two races that we come close to the points, 11th in Shanghai, 10th today we are inside the points.
“Yeah, definitely feels good to come out of this weekend with some rewards.”
The Frenchman also revealed that he retained the same engine clipping issues that had hampered him in qualifying and denied him from competing for a place in Q3.
Despite finishing in the points after a near miss in China the race before, Ocon still believes Alpine’s car is more competitive on single-lap pace compared to race trim.
“I think we are still better in qualifying than we are in the race,” Ocon added.
“I think today, you know, if you leave 10 more laps, probably, you know, Nico [Hulkenberg] would have been very close and fighting with us again.
“You know, I had to fight my way through that race. It was insane how many moves I had to do and the fact that we were struggling with the straight-line speed as well didn’t help too much.
“Same issue as yesterday [engine clipping], so not the perfect, you know, lead-up to the race from Saturday onwards, but nevertheless, we come out with some rewards.”
