Envying Fernando Alonso & Co.’s Rise, Esteban Ocon Sets Sky-High Ambitions for Alpine F1: “There’s No Point In..”

Heavy is the head that wears the crown. While Alpine wore the crown of rulers of midfield last year, only their hearts seem heavy this time around. The French team who were fighting Mclaren last year is still closely bunched with them in the WDC tally just towards the far end of the scoreboard. And with Aston Martin’s unexpected rise in the developmental department combined with the master class of Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard’s ex-team can only harbor a bit of envy with ambitious foresight.

Fernando Alonso gave a boot to the team that finished fourth to shift base to the one that finished seventh. And what a gamble it has turned out to be. Surprisingly, Alpine is at the losing end of this breakup. It is no secret that the Silverstone-based outfit tapped into the speed gods, making up 2.4 seconds in the developmental pace. And now Esteban Ocon and co. want to emulate the same.

According to Motorsport-total, Esteban Ocon said, “We have to believe that it’s possible. Otherwise, there’s no point in racing.” Calculating the progress of other teams, especially Aston Martin, Ocon said, “We finished the [2022] season in December. And when it started again it was late February, early March, so that’s three or four months,” he says, adding, “I don’t know if Aston would have made [that progress] during the season, but in three or four months the season is not over.”

Hoping that his team can make similar progress, he emphasizes: “Aston Martin has shown […] that it is possible to make a big step if you find the right things.”

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While the man already has high hopes for his team, he isn’t one to shy away from working behind the scenes with them. More so because he has always highlighted that he has been an integral part of the developmental process. Even when Fernando Alonso was around.

Esteban Ocon hopes for a better future and upgrades

Still shy from acting like the defending champions of the midfield, Alpine does have “some really interesting ideas” in the pipeline. The 26-year-old Frenchman has been a core motivator and an integral part of the development. He highlighted his experience of visiting the Enstone facility.

He said, “I’m at the factory at least one or two days a week. I was in the aero department and I saw the future drawings. I saw the future concepts of the car, what we’re going to put on the car,” said Ocon, who hopes to improve the car as soon as possible. He further added, “It’s never just about one thing, and that’s the tricky thing: a compromise in one place can mean that you lose a little bit of performance elsewhere.”

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Do you think the French team can pull the same developmental move as Aston Martin? Can they successfully defend their title of the best of the rest?