Ocon left fuming after switch to wet tyre in Dutch GP

Esteban Ocon was thoroughly unhappy with Alpine's decision to put him on Pirelli's full wet rubber in the closing stages of the Dutch Grand Prix, insisting it was "not the right tyre at any moment" in the race.

Ocon was running sixth just ahead of Ferrari Carlos Sainz when the rain pummeled down once again as the race entered its final ten laps.

While the Frenchman expected to switch to inters, Alpine's strategists opted for full wets as they expected the downpour to increase.

But that was a moot point as far as Ocon was concerned as a monsoon hitting the track would likely bring out the red flag, which was exactly what happened after Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu flew off the course at the first corner and triggered a race stoppage.

When the race resumed, with seven laps to go, Ocon was able to seize P10, courtesy of a puncture suffered by George Russell up ahead.

Read also:

• Gasly: Dutch GP podium proves Alpine 'going in the right direction'

But the Frenchman was clearly unhappy with his team's strategy call.

"Unfortunately, we let these points just slip away at the end," said an unhappy Ocon after the race.

"I wasn't happy with the call of the full wets. But also we boxed one lap too late. The tyres were not ready in the garage for me to box at the lap that I asked on the radio.

"So I had to stay out on slicks when it was wet and lost five positions. So went from sixth to eleventh!"

This season, given the number of wet races that have taken place, Pirelli's wet tyre has often been criticized by drivers. And Ocon joined the choir last weekend.

"It was not the right tyre at any moment," he said. "And the second thing is, if you have to put the full wets, it's a red flag. And it happened.

"So there is no point at any point where the full wet is a better tyre because it's slower. And if it's the right condition for the full wets, it's not the right condition to drive an F1 car."

Ocon admitted to have also been frustrated at the start of the race when he was unable to pit for inters at the end of the first lap, like his teammate Pierre Gasly had done.

"Well, it's been Spa and here, that this has happened, that's how it is," he said.

"But even with that, we could have done a P6 finish today, and it would not have mattered that obviously we lost out a little bit on that first pit stop. The big cost one was the last one."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter