“It’s been pretty freaky”– Alpine is confused with the pace difference between both cars despite having an identical setup, as told by Esteban Ocon.
Esteban Ocon had a race to forget in Russia, where he finished P14 and was lapped by the race leaders. On the other hand, Fernando Alonso had a decent outing, securing a P8, which could have been even better if the rain hadn’t interfered.
According to Ocon, Alpine is confused by the disparity in the two performances, even though both drivers are running their cars on identical setups.
“The cars were very similar in terms of setup for the last three or four races, so pretty much identical,” he said. “And there has been quite a lot of deviation in this [Russia] race, and we don’t have the same comments [on the car] anymore.”
“We have a couple of ideas on what it could be and we are looking at fixing it obviously for the next race or the one after, so we are going to see.”
Losing ground with every lap
Ocon was given a new chassis to solve his early predicaments of the season; following it, he managed to give in some impressive performances, but with recurring problems, he informs that his team is investigating the issue.
esteban ocon;
“it’s a long dark winding road we’re on, oh but i carry on” pic.twitter.com/31cFBfRlfG
— nic 🎃 (@NIC4LE_) September 29, 2021
“We managed to stick in a good position for the first couple laps, but after that, it’s been pretty freaky,” he said. “Pace wise we were lacking quite a lot of lap time lap by lap and losing ground to the car in front, not being able to attack or defend to any of them, to be fair,
“So quite a lot of things for us to review, quite a lot of work before getting to Turkey, but we’ll find what was wrong,” he added. Ocon then says that he is no explanation for the slowing pace, as he is still as comfortable in the car as before.
“There is no particular reason,” he said. “I feel good at the wheel, like I’ve been feeling good in Monza or Zandvoort.”
