Baku: Ocon hopes for Alpine as competitive as in Portimao

After a difficult weekend in Monaco, Alpine plans to make up for it in Baku. Finishing 9th, more than a lap behind the winner in the streets of the Principality, Or with believes thatAlpine was able to identify the problems and will be back in business this weekend “We worked on the problems we had with the car. On the scale it wasn't perfect, nor on the tires. Here, the tires will be the same as in Monaco so we should be able to make them work” The French driver, 10th in the championship, however believes that the 6,003 km route should better suit his Alpine, thanks in particular to the long straight lines “The track is very different here, it's more like Monza so I think our performances should be closer to what we saw in Portimao and Barcelona. »

Not often lucky in Azerbaijan, finding himself in two collisions, in 2017 with his teammate at the time Perez, but also in 2018 with Raïkkönen, Ocon prefers to focus on the present and forget the past “I haven't often been in the right place at the right time, let's say. Here there is a bit of luck and the most important thing is to be present until the last lap because here something can really happen at any time. »

The French driver also returned this Thursday to the rather flattering comparison with his teammate Alonso. If the whole paddock thought that the Bull of Asturias was going to make short work of Ocon, it's actually quite the opposite. Latest example: the gap in qualifying between the two drivers Alpine. While Ocon failed at the gates of Q3, it was an unrecognizable Alonso who found himself in 17th position. Ocon assures us, we will soon find Alonso at his best: “We did not discuss with him about his concerns in qualifying. What I know is that in free practice he was in front. I was able to reverse the trend on Saturday afternoon. I don't know what happened to him but he is clearly in a period of learning the car. He's in a bit of the same situation as me last year to know how the car will behave and it's something that unfortunately takes time. »