Esteban Ocon says his Alpine Formula 1 team should have been more flexible with its strategy at Spa, and potentially converted to a one-stopper.
Ocon was running ahead of Fernando Alonso before his second and final stop, but the Aston Martin driver didn’t come in again and remained ahead of the Alpine at the flag.
Ocon took 10th place on the road, although he gained a spot from George Russell’s disqualification.
He had opted to run a new low drag rear wing, while team mate Pierre Gasly went for more downforce, and had a frustrating race.
Although it was the team’s first score after difficult weekends in Britain and Hungary Ocon felt that he could have been a place higher.
“The car performance has been very decent,” he said. “This race we were able to fight cars and to progress throughout the race.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t the maximum result. Before the last stop, we were about four to six seconds in front of Fernando, and unfortunately, he finished three and a half or four seconds in front of us. So that last stop cost us a lot.
“It was very clear that we had to react with the numbers we were going to have in the race, and we had to be flexible, with the plan. It was clear that this is what we had to do. We decided to do the safe plan, and the plan we usually do. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right one today.”
Although it was a solid race for Ocon he was cautious about what it meant for the Enstone’s overall form, noting that traditionally it was gone well at Spa.
“I think we need to be careful into reading into this race too much,” he said. “If you look at historical results, in 2020 we finished fourth and fifth we finished. In 2021 we finished with both cars in the points, easily. In 2022 I started last and finished sixth.”
“And every year we have decent car performance. It would be good that we could carry that performance forward. But I expect that it’s going to be a little bit more difficult on the following ones. I hope I’m lying, but to me, this is what it seems.”
Summing up the first half of his 2024 season he said: “I think decent performance. Obviously, sometimes I didn’t get very lucky in the races. But in qualifying, I’ve performed well.
“I’ve performed well as well in the race. We had a few issues at times, with some weird degradation and stuff like that.
“But I think on my own performance, I’m pretty happy at the moment. I know what I have to focus on. We need to keep going, and hopefully have more pace for the second half.”
