Alpine driver Esteban Ocon has revealed that he suffered a serious lung virus over the winter off-season break, which affected his preparations for the forthcoming new season.
The 26-year-old French driver told media at Alpine's launch event in London on Thursday evening that the "worrying" illness meant that he hadn't been able to carry out his normal physical training programme.
But Ocon insisted that he was fully recovered now and had put in extra work on his fitness regime since then to ensure that he would be ready for the first race of the season in Bahrain on March 5.
“For a month and a half I was not really able to get back to the fitness level that I was supposed to have,” he revealed.
“I was able to do some things. But, like, my cardio went to the highest level at walking pace, for example. It was that bad.
"We were quite worried," he admitted. "But we did everything [we could] for me to recover as quickly as possible, and to switch that into full training mode when I was feeling better, and then I climbed massively up."
Ocon insisted that his physical condition now rated “higher on most data than I had in 2022”.
"We’ve done a great job - together with my team, with my coaches - to get back to the fitness level that I had in the previous year," he said. “But for a long time it did plateau, and that was when we started to worry.
“The human body is a very strange machine," he mused. "It’s not a machine. That’s why we can’t fix it as quickly as we would fix the car, which is quite a pain sometimes. But that’s how it is.
“It was just a scary moment for quite a while that it was not going away," he said. “I feel great now, but in such a short period of time, those viruses are strong. Everyone needs to take care, obviously.”
Ocon was fortunate that there was more down time this year than there had been in the past thanks to the early finish to the 2022 season to make way for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
"It’s been a longer off-season than usual since the 2022 season ended in November, which has allowed for some more time to switch off and recharge and, more importantly, to prepare for what will be another long and intense season.
"I was able to try new things and activities during this off season while balancing the training, and I feel ready to go. I’m really looking forward to the season starting. Bring it on!”
©Alpine
Now that he's over the illness, Ocon will be hoping to pick up the momentum from 2022 that saw him finish in eighth place in the drivers championship.
His efforts in tandem with those of Fernando Alonso helped Alpine end up in fourth place in the constructors standings, just ahead of McLaren.
Alonso has since left the team, and this year Ocon will be racing alongside compatriot Pierre Gasly who is freshly arrived from AlphaTauri.
“Having Pierre join the team is an incredible story for us and for the Alpine brand," Ocon said.
"Pierre and I have known each other since we were little kids growing up in Normandy, so for both of us to reach our dreams of racing in F1 and now on the same team is extremely special.
"We took different paths during our junior categories but I am excited to have Pierre join the Alpine family, and I have no doubt he will settle in well and it’s great to have him as my team-mate.
"I know we both can’t wait to get started and help the Team reach its targets."
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