Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team A523. 27.08.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 14, Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort, Netherlands, Race Day.
Esteban Ocon claims a late pitstop mishap by his Alpine team cost him the chance of more points in Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.
Having run as high as sixth during a chaotic rain-impacted race at Zandvoort, the Frenchman dropped to 10th by the chequered flag.
With team-mate Pierre Gasly basking in podium glory by securing third, Ocon was left bitterly disappointed by the manner in which his race transpired.
Despite claiming his Alpine “wasn’t feeling better” from Saturday, Ocon asserts that an incorrect choice to take on the Wet tyre ended his chances of a stronger result.
“First of all congratulations to Pierre and his side of the garage, they’ve done a superb job to bring the team the second podium this season so that’s very positive and probably the only positive of this weekend,” Ocon said.
“At the end I wasn’t happy with the call for the full wets but also we boxed one lap too late.
“The tyres were not ready in the garage for me to box in the lap that I asked in the radio so I had to stay out on the slicks in the wet and lost five positions so went from sixth to 11th.”
Esteban Ocon (FRA) Alpine F1 Team A523 makes a pit stop. 27.08.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 14, Dutch Grand Prix, Zandvoort, Netherlands, Race Day.
Ocon is adamant that the choice to switch to the extreme Wet compound was wrong, despite Red Bull also electing to pit for the wet tyre prior under the Virtual Safety Car brought on by Zhou Guanyu’s Turn 1 incident, which transpired into a red flag stoppage on Lap 65.
“The problem first is when you have a Red Bull you have some margin in the front, we don’t have any margin and the second thing if you have to put [on] the full wets it’s already a red flag,” he added.
“There’s no point at any point where the full wet is a better tyre because it’s slower and if it’s the right condition for the full wets then it’s not the right conditions to drive a Formula 1 car.”
With Gasly’s third-place finish, sixth for Ocon would have helped claw back more vital points to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship, given both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fell foul of strategy amid the changeable weather conditions on Sunday.
Alpine remain sixth in the Constructors’ standings on 73 points, 38 behind McLaren in fifth.
Meanwhile, Ocon is 11th in the Drivers’ Championship with 36 points, one behind his team-mate Gasly in 10th, with the former keen to move on from a rueful race.
“A very different track, one we all look forward to and obviously the Italian Grand Prix is always special so hopefully we turn the page and come back stronger,” Ocon declared.
Keyword: Ocon: Alpine let ‘points slip away’ in Dutch GP