Esteban Ocon: « It was awful »
The 7th place harvested by Esteban Ocon was not secured without hitch. Like many other drivers, the Normand suffered physically.
Alpine could only rely on Esteban Ocon this Sunday in Qatar. While his teammate got caught up in accruing penalties, the former protege of Mercedes managed to keep his head above water…or almost.
8th on the grid and with two heavyweights almost out of the race, points should have been the Frenchman’s objective before the start. With Sergio Perez starting from the pit lane following his crash in the sprint race and the abruption of Sainz’s race due to a leak, this was going to allow two additional drivers to enter the Top 10. Eventually, the clash between Lewis Hamilton and George Russell from the first turn benefited Ocon who was able to take advantage of the chaos to climb to the 5th position.
Yet well settled in the train of leaders, the pit stop carousel revealed the true pace of the Alpine. Its undercut attempt on Charles Leclerc at the 10th lap had only the effect of isolating it. Naturally, the McLaren of Norris behind him, which had a far superior pace, managed to gain enough time to take his position.
If Esteban Ocon has given us a nice battle with Lance Stroll on the 36th lap, the French clan could regret never having had the necessary speed to go after Fernando Alonso. Although the latter lost a lot of time due to a detour into the gravel, the Spaniard was never bothered by the adversity of his former team. Especially since, the Losail circuit, with its fast corners, was not supposed to put the green cars at their advantage. Once again the Alpine have proven that, barring race incidents, they simply failed to break the glass ceiling that separates them from the top spots.
« It was awful. On the 15th lap I started to feel nauseous and began to vomit. It was complicated but I managed to calm down and finish, although it was difficult. There was no air, it was unbearable. It was much safer than Singapore or than in 2021. »
Esteban Ocon was among those drivers who suffered from the heat and lack of air in the desert. At the end of the race, he confessed to his engineer that he had vomited inside his helmet from the 15th lap. The dryness of Qatar was such that Logan Sargeant preferred to withdraw, while Lance Stroll, a close friend of Ocon, revealed that it was very difficult not to lose consciousness under such conditions.
With this 7th place finish in Qatar, Esteban Ocon secures his best position at the end of a race since the Monaco Grand Prix. This result brings him only 2 points away from the 11th position of his garage mate in the drivers’ standings.
