Alpine had hoped to compete with the three traditional top teams thanks to the new rule changes, but for now is fighting for fourth place with McLaren. Esteban Ocon hopes to compete with Mercedes soon. The Frenchman is confident that his team can make this happen.
Alpine had hoped to compete with the three traditional top teams thanks to the new rule changes, but for now is fighting for fourth place with McLaren. Esteban Ocon hopes to compete with Mercedes soon. The Frenchman is confident that his team can make this happen.
Mercedes believes that their upgrades have allowed them to catch up with Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. This would mean that they have definitely left the middle of the grid behind, but Alpine's view is a bit different. Ocon thinks it won't be long before Alpine's A522 can fight with the cars of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
Britain's Channel 4 asked Ocon if Alpine will be able to duel with the big boys. "Yes. At the moment, that's where we are, of course," he declared.
"As much as we have improved the car, we haven't improved it enough to be able to fight against the Mercs. But the goal is to fight higher for sure, it's still early and I'm hopeful that we can fight with them at some point," stated the Frenchman.
The 25-year-old driver reveals that several other improvements will be made to the 2022 car. The major upgrade introduced at the Silverstone circuit at least paid off, according to Ocon. "So that's still on the way and we'll continue," he commented, sounding combative on the French side.
However, even Alpine will have to look ahead to 2023 at some point. Because of the budget ceiling, all teams face a dilemma: when to focus fully on next season and stop spending time developing the current car.