Esteban Ocon says he isn't fearful of suffering a bouncing ride next weekend in Bahrain onboard Alpine's new A522, insisting the Enstone squad is on top of its car's porpoising issues.
The brutal ground effects-induced vertical movement on the straights of F1's new generation cars has hit all teams in pre-season testing, with each outfit applying its own fix to the phenomenon with varying success.
However, along with McLaren, Alpine appears to have mitigated the problem without impacting its car's overall level of performance, which bodes well for the French outfit's opening race next weekend at Sakhir.
"Everybody is struggling, in the end, because it is their new cars and there is a lot to understand," Ocon told Sky Sports F1.
"We have seen some reliability issues here and there on our side once in Barcelona, but the rest was trouble-free.
"It is all going well at the moment. We've seen some bouncing from Fernando [Alonso], but we know how to fix it.
"On my days we have had none, which is good for me, because I did not need to take a paracetamol!"
Ocon suggested that fine-tuning the car's ride-height has ironed out much of the A522's porpoising problem.
"You can solve it," he said. "When the car is squatting down, it is worse, and I think the headwind at Turn 1 [in Bahrain] was not helping."
Although Alpine's performance in pre-season testing hasn't positioned the team among F1's favourites to take top spoils next weekend, the squad is definitely looking to win again at some point this season after Ocon's surprise triumph last year victory in Hungary.
"We will push [for another win]," said an optimistic Ocon. "It is great to work with Fernando. I am very happy to keep going [with him].
"To be learning everything again and to have that close relationship with him is mega, because we can push the team forward."
"Happy days, we keep going!"
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