Esteban Ocon says an "opportunistic" race last weekend in the Saudi Arabian GP and the chance to fight closely with his rivals have helped Alpine identify the areas where it needs to improve its troubled A524.
Like in Bahrain, Ocon and teammate Pierre Gasly qualified in the lower tier of the field, but unlike in Sakhir they at least managed to avoid the last row of the grid.
While Gasly was sidelined at the outset by a terminal transmission problem, Ocon was able to gain a few spots, the Frenchman progressing from P17 up to P13 while relying on a long second stint on the hard tyre.
This put the Alpine charger in a group of faster cars which offered him, and his team, a chance to compare their car’s relative performance and take away some enlightening information on the A524’s deficit.
"I think an opportunistic race, that's how we should call it," Ocon said. "I think we were up to P10 at some point virtually, because Kevin [Magnussen] had the penalty.
"We navigated our way through and fought our way through and there were a lot of battles. But in the end it was just not enough. We were up to a point that we couldn't keep. Basically we were faster than what the car could do in the end, and we went backwards towards the end.
"So it's very clear what we need to improve for the next races now. Racing more with the other guys it was easier to spot than in Bahrain.
"We're going to keep digging, keep pushing, and I'm going to be in the factory [this week], so I'm going to keep pushing to find solutions with the guys.
"In comparison to Bahrain I think here there were quite a few things that we spotted that we can improve. But there is a lot to improve still, and we are aware of it."
Ocon reiterated that circumstances placed him among his faster rivals. Any hopes of overhauling the latter were quickly dashed.
"I couldn't really fight," he said. "It's quite a big statement to say that we could fight. We managed to get in front of them somehow, but on a normal circuit, I think, with normal situations, and no fighting, we are still behind."
Magnussen’s bold strategic overtake on RB’s Yuki Tsunoda off the track, and which allowed the Haas driver to position himself ahead of a train of cars that included Ocon made for “tough racing” according to the latter.
"It was tough racing," Ocon said. "But I like tough racing, so that's not for me to complain about. Is it too much? I don't know.
“The FIA has to decide if it's too much or not, it's not on my side. But being behind with how much traffic it created, it created some tricky situations.
"I think his team has been very tough with him on that one [by asking him to slow rivals]. It's been quite chaotic, to say the least.
"Good opportunities on my side, because otherwise, I would probably not have been able to fight for that."
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