Ocon on wet tyres in Zandvoort: “at no point the right tyre”

With the beautiful podium secured by Pierre Gasly, the weekend in Zandvoort concluded on a very positive note for the Alpine team, but Esteban Ocon expressed his frustration about the tire choices made during the race. The Frenchman stated after the race that the full wet tire was not the right tire at any point.

Already in difficult conditions, he had only managed to get 16th place on the grid in qualifying on Saturday (17th, but Tsunoda was penalized). The rain that fell on the coastal circuit of Zandvoort forced everyone to rethink their strategy, with Sergio Perez, for example, immediately coming in to put on intermediate tires, or Alexander Albon who kept his slicks on for a long time.

Esteban Ocon, with green tires, was able to climb back up and settle momentarily in the top 10, but it was when the rain fell for the second time on the track that the Normandy-born driver got annoyed having to put on rain tires. « Let’s go for intermediate tires, guys! », he suggested to his team over the radio. But he had to settle for blue tires. A choice that could have paid off as, at that point in the race, he was the only one with such tires. « This is the worst decision, guys, f*****g hell ». We’ll spare you the full translation, but Ocon was furious, arguing that « if it’s not drivable, there will be a red flag » when he was warned before the second downpour.

Result, good prediction by the driver, as shortly after the red flag was deployed when Guanyu Zhou went straight with his Alfa Romeo and ended up in the barriers at the first corner of the 65th lap.

Full wet, “not for driving an F1 car”?

The man from Evreux is 11th at the time of the interruption, he will finish the race in 10th place, very frustrated despite the good points taken by Alpine. « If you have to put on the full wet tire, it means there will be a red flag. And that’s what happened. Therefore, there is no moment where the full wet tire is a better tire because it is slower. And if there are good conditions for these tires, they are not the right ones for driving an F1 car. »

He also expressed disappointment at having boxed one lap too late during the second downpour. The tires were not ready in the garage for me to box at the lap I requested on the radio. Therefore, I had to stay on slicks on the wet track and I lost five positions.

A Sunday of mixed emotions for the Alpine Frenchies indeed. Pierre rediscovered the joy of the podium, but who knows where Esteban would have ended up if things had gone slightly differently?

Anyway, the Viry-Châtillon stable has gained 8 points on McLaren, which is ahead of it in the race for the top 5.