Ocon: Alpine 'proud' of recent performance upswing

Esteban Ocon says Alpine "can be proud" of the results it achieved in its last the three races, which followed the team's difficult start to its 2023 campaign.

Last month ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi publicly denounced Alpine's underperformance in the first four races of the season, highlighting the team's "poor execution" and "amateurish" approach.

It was a scathing dressing down by the Frenchman, one that served as a massive wake-up call for the outfit's management and crews which created a sense of urgency and accountability within the team.

Since however, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly have delivered three consecutive top-ten finishes to Alpine, including a remarkable podium in Monaco, courtesy of Ocon.

The results have gone a long way towards restoring the troops' morale and demonstrated the team's ability to respond positively to pressure.

"We can be proud of how the team has bounced back following a difficult start to the season, which we know was below our expectations," commented Ocon ahead of this week's Canadian Grand Prix.

"We have scored double points at each of the last three races and achieved a deserved podium as well.

"The team has been working flat-out to deliver these results so all credit to them, both at the factories and at the track."

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Despite Alpine's upswing, Ocon insisted the team must continue to improve to race on par with its rivals up ahead.

"We know we are not at the level of our competitors in front so that is something we are addressing as we still want to the achieve the ambitious targets that we have set ourselves at the beginning of the year," he added.

"We are fighters and we believe we can challenge our competitors on the track like we’ve shown already at races this season.

"Every race is an opportunity for this, and we are glad we can have another go this weekend in Montréal."

Looking ahead to next weekend's round of racing at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Ocon aims to improve on, or at the very least match, the sixth-place finish he enjoyed last year.

"It’s a great track and I really enjoy driving there," he said.

"Most corners in Montréal come as a double change of direction, which requires good responsiveness from the car, so set-up is very important.

"There are also the walls which make it exciting to drive and keeps us on our toes. The track surface in Montreal is usually quite smooth but tyre degradation in the race is normally relatively high as we use the softest compound of tyres.

"Combined with the stop-and-go nature of the track, this improves the chances of overtaking which can make it an entertaining Grand Prix.

"We were sixth here last year so we will look to match or improve that this time around!"

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