Alpine’s Esteban Ocon has revealed that he is looking to ‘get into a rhythm’ at 2021 Styrian Grand Prix, after enduring a difficult home race in France last weekend.
Ocon finished 14th at his home race at Circuit Paul Ricard last weekend after struggling with tyre degradation, yet the Frenchman felt that he simply lacked any momentum throughout the race, saying: “We just couldn’t get into a rhythm in the race, especially on the first stint with the Hard tyres.
“It was very difficult to manage and it gives us some thinking to do to make sure we’re not in a similar situation this weekend.”
Ocon also noted that tyres can often play “a key area” in how races unfold at the Red Bull Ring, Austria so has vowed to conduct extra preparation to give himself the best possible chance at points.
Fernando Alonso meanwhile enjoyed an eighth-placed finish in France which he hailed as “a good weekend” and evidence that Alpine perform better at the more traditional tracks than the “unique” circuits like Monaco and Baku.
Alonso therefore is hoping for further progress in Austria with the Red Bull Ring representing another traditional race track, so expects to see the level in car performance not “differ hugely” compared to France.
Tyre degradation however is still on the Spaniard’s mind with Alonso keen to strategize for all scenarios, commenting: “However, we need to prepare for all scenarios because you never know and as we saw in France the tyres degraded much faster than anyone expected.”
Rain is forecast throughout the weekend and with a habit for Austria producing crazy race action, Alonso also feels that he needs “to prepare the right way and see what we can do.”
‘not a circuit we fear anymore’
Having struggled across both races at the Red Bull Ring in 2020, Executive Director, Marcin Budkowski is looking forward to how Alpine has progressed in the last 12 months and has stated that the team considers this track as “not a circuit we fear anymore.”
Budkowski therefore has iterated that the aim is to “build on the promising pace we showed in France last week and return to having both cars in Q3 and both cars well inside the points.”
Last year’s Styrian Qualifying however was affected by storms which forced the cancellation of FP3 and with similar conditions forecast for entire weekend, Budkowski has vowed to “keep a close eye on the weather radar for the whole weekend.”
Leave a Reply