Ocon Want To Close Gap To Leading Teams And Doesn't Care If It's 'Realistic'

Wednesday, 03 January 2024 at 00:00

Alpine Formula One team had an unsuccessful season in 2023, but Esteban Ocon said his aim is to close the gap to leading teams and does not care whether it's realistic.

Esteban Ocon showed great promise as a rookie driver and is one of the few who actually managed to beat the current triple World Champion Max Verstappen in equal machinery (European F3 Championship 2014).

However, ever since he got to Formula One, Ocon has achieved only one victory, and the main reason is he has never sat in a Championship-contending car.

For the last four seasons, the Frenchman has been with the Renault/ Alpine F1 team, which has been struggling with internal problems and was stuck competing in midfield.

The team had a decent season in 2022 when they finished fourth in the championship, but in 2023, Alpine fell back to sixth place. Ocon told RacingNews365:

"We need to work on the performance of the car, some teams have done a better job than us in progressing and getting stronger updates into the cars."

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Like many other teams, Alpine started focusing on the development of the 2024 car earlier in the year, which the 27-year-old hopes will help.

"That’s what we need to try and change. Obviously, we’re already working on the 2024 car in the simulator. We took it earlier in the year, which should help for our 2024 campaign."

Ocon recently mentioned it has been "painful" watching drivers like Verstappen or Charles Leclerc compete for race wins while he knows he has the pace to match them, as shown in rookie series before F1.

The Frenchman set ambitious goals for his team going into this year's season and does not care whether they are realistic or not. He explained:

"I don’t know if it’s realistic, I don’t care to be honest. That’s what we have to look at. That’s where we have to aim. We want to close the gap, we want to get more competitive. We’re not going into the new year thinking otherwise. Because otherwise, we would never be winners."