Ocon and Alpine’s tough season: “It’s a rather sad ending”
Recently overtaken by Williams in eighth place in the constructors' championship, Alpine is struggling during this 2024 season. For his final season with the French team, Esteban Ocon hopes to turn things around in this end of the season, at the risk of ending in disappointment.
Eight points for Pierre Gasly, five for Esteban Ocon… After 18 Grand Prix races, the French tally is quite meager. Entangled at the bottom of the constructors’ standings, Alpine saw Williams snatch away 8th place in the championship after the Baku Grand Prix.
Also read: Esteban Ocon fatalist after 13th place in Singapore
Ocon believes that it will be difficult to recover this position with six races still to go in the championship. Williams is on a very upward trajectory. They have been very fast all season and probably faster than us most of the time, observes the Frenchman.
A logical position considering the car.
The difficulties of the two Normans are not due to a drop in form on their part. It is the limitations of their A524 that penalize them. 15th in Azerbaijan, Ocon had stressed after the race that the car simply needed to be there.
However, it doesn’t seem that simple from Enstone’s side, which is struggling to develop a competitive car from one race to another. Optimism is not on the agenda for Esteban Ocon approaching the end of the season: “For the moment, we are obviously ninth in the constructor’s championship. Unfortunately, the car’s performances are suffering. The whole team is doing its best to try to improve the situation, but it will be difficult to turn things around.”
A gloomy end to the adventure for Ocon
Arriving at Alpine (formerly Renault) in 2020, the Evreux native is experiencing his worst season with the French team, holding the 18th place in the drivers’ championship (12th in 2020 and 2023, 11th in 2021 and 8th in 2022). He mentions a tough season, both in terms of sports and personal: “[This season] has been full of problems and questions, and we just want to be able to build something good and have fun behind the wheel, which is the most important thing and something I haven’t had for a while.”
Before joining Haas in 2025, Ocon « does not give up » on the idea of achieving results at the end of this season. « I still want to finish the chapter with this team on a good note,” he says. » “For now, it’s a pretty sad ending, unfortunately, but I hope we can turn things around and be on the right track until the end of the season.” Without scoring points in five races since his 9th place in Belgium, the 28-year-old driver hopes he hasn’t already scored his last points with Alpine.
Read also: 150th Grand Prix in F1, the 100th with Alpine: a contrasted assessment for Ocon
