Esteban Ocon aims for his 134th start, matching Jarier, amidst Alpine F1’s quest for A524’s performance in Bahrain.
Should he compete in the first two rounds of the calendar, Ocon will join the ranks of the top fifty most experienced drivers in F1 history after the first two Grand Prix of the season.
However, the outlook isn’t as promising for the Frenchman with Alpine F1, as the brand-new A524 has yet to show significant performance. Thus, he hopes to continue its development during the Bahrain GP, again at the Sakhir circuit.
“After three days of intensive preseason testing and a lengthy winter preparation for the new season, I’m truly eager to get back behind the wheel for a Grand Prix. Even though it was just testing, I found myself in a wheel-to-wheel battle at the end of one of the sessions, with several cars racing towards the first corner. It was fun and it sharpened my appetite for this weekend in Bahrain.”
“Besides, the testing session in Bahrain was extremely beneficial, and we learned a lot about the new car and its characteristics. The car made progress from the first to the last day, so we are hoping to see similar improvements during the race weekend. We know what we have at our disposal before the first event of the season and we need to make the most of our package to give ourselves the best chance of leaving Bahrain with something.”
Will Alpine F1 be among the last on the grid? Ocon doesn’t want to sound the alarm prematurely and insists that the focus remains on working hard to better exploit the potential of the new F1 from Enstone.
“It’s difficult to gauge the pecking order after such a short testing schedule and with teams on different programs and fuel loads. We simply focused on ourselves and gathered as much data as possible.”
“The same goes for this weekend in Bahrain. We know we are entering this season slightly behind with our new concept, and the team is working incredibly hard to bring more performance to the car in the upcoming races.”
Ocon Alpine F1 Bahrain. Ocon Alpine F1 Bahrain 2024
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