Esteban Ocon Looks To Bounce Back From “frustrating” Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon has revealed that he is looking to bounce back in Miami following a “frustrating” Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. 

Ocon saw his streak of seven consecutive top-nine points finishes come to an end in Imola last time out as he only finished 14th, following his Q1 exit in 19th position from which he made up three positions to 16th following Sprint Qualifying.

Reflecting on how the difficult weekend will motive him here, Ocon said: ““Imola was a frustrating weekend for the team. It is clear that there are areas we must improve on.

“The first three races were good for me and not being in the points in Italy will serve as further motivation for everyone to bounce back in Miami.

The whole team is looking forward to it and we know if we do things right, we will be able to extract the potential we know this car has, and deliver the results we are capable of.”

Alpine will also bring “a few upgrades to the car” which Ocon is hoping will play to his strengths, whilst also addressing his lack of pace in Imola where conditions swung from wet to dry conditions across the weekend.

Fernando Alonso meanwhile retired in Imola with serious damage from an opening lap collision with Haas’ Mick Schumacher

Alonso has driven the “fun” Miami International Autodrome track layout in the simulator but has admitted that he is “curious to see how the circuit is in real life.”

On his views about how the new generation cars are faring after four rounds, Alonso felt that there has been “mixed results” in terms of overtaking although he iterated that track characteristics likely played a part in the various overtaking opportunities as he insisted “it’s still too early to judge.”

Taking one positive from the new cars and 18-inch tyres on the impact upon racing, Alonso commented: “It’s clear already though that it’s easier to follow the cars ahead and because the cars are all suffering with varying levels of tyre degradation, it’s creating different strategies and opportunities in the race.

“The cars are fun to drive, but let’s judge whether the racing as a spectacle is better when we’ve had more races to compare against.”