"Otherwise there's no point racing" - Alpine driver confident of team emulating Aston Martin's progress

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon is confident that the French team can emulate Aston Martin's progress and rise up the pecking order.

Aston Martin have been a revelation this season, jumping from midfield to the front. They have finished in the podium in all three races of the 2023 season and have been very impressive overall.

Alpine, meanwhile, led midfield last season and was targeting to close the gap to the front. That has not happened, though, as they continue to be a midfield leader and have been leapfrogged by Aston Martin.

Ocon scored the most points for Alpine last season but has not had the best of luck this season. Despite two DNFs in his first three races, the Frenchman remains optimistic about the chances of a reversal in his team's fortunes:

"We have to think it is possible, otherwise there's no point racing. If you think about it, we finished the season in December, and when we restarted it was the end of February, beginning of March. So it's about three, four months."

He added:

"I don't know if Aston would have been able to do that in-season, but if you take three or four months, it's not the end of the season. Aston Martin have shown, and fair play to them, that it is possible to make a big step if you find the right things. It is doable."

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"We can't make compromises" - Alpine

Talking to Autosport, Esteban Ocon discussed about how Alpine drivers have been a regular at the factory and how at the end of the day the team can't make any compromises.

They have to focus on getting the best possible result, and that should be the aim. Ocon said:

"I'm at the factory at least one or two days a week. I've been to the aero department. I've seen the future drawings. I've seen future concepts of the car, what we are going to bring to the car. And there are some really interesting ideas. I'm looking forward to seeing them being produced and seeing them on the car."

He added:

"It's a lot of details. It's never one thing, and that's the difficulty. A compromise somewhere can lead you to lose a little bit of performance elsewhere. And we can't make compromises at the moment because of where we are."

Alpine will hope to gain some momentum, as they have not had the best of starts to the season.