Esteban Ocon is rueing the ‘not perfect’ situation at Alpine after suffering with the ‘same issue’ in the F1 Sprint and the Grand Prix through Formula 1’s visit to Miami.
Hard Rock Stadium welcomed the pinnacle of motorsport back to Florida for round six of the 2024 season. The home of the Miami Dolphins also saw Ocon score his first point of the year by finishing the Miami GP in 10th place, with his Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly securing P12.
Alpine had failed to score any points through the first five Grand Prix of the season, plus the Sprint at the Chinese GP and the Miami GP. Ocon even claims the Renault-owned Formula 1 team were somewhat fortunate to secure a point in Florida after facing a recurring problem.
Esteban Ocon rues Alpine ‘struggling’ with straight-line speed in the Miami GP
Ocon feels Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg might have passed the 27-year-old for the last point if the Miami GP had been 10 laps longer. The Frenchman finished just 1.043 seconds in front of the 36-year-old after only pitting once on Lap 22, while Hulkenberg pitted on L12 and L28.
Haas elected to pit Hulkenberg again behind the safety car after losing positions on the hard compound tyres to Ocon, Fernando Alonso and Gasly. A change to medium tyres helped the German to recover after restarting the Miami GP in 16th, with Ocon already running in 10th.
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Ocon thinks he could not make any more progress beyond taking P10 after qualifying in 13th having managed his engine clipping during the Miami GP. The three-time Grand Prix podium finisher also suffered from clipping in the Sprint, which he started in P13 but finished in P15.
“I think we are still better in qualifying than we are in the race,” Ocon noted, via Motorsport Week, after the Miami GP. “I think today if you have 10 more laps, probably, you know, Nico would have been very close and fighting with us again.
“I had to fight my way through that race. It was insane how many moves I had to do and the fact that we were struggling with the straight-line speed, as well, didn’t help too much.
“[I had the] same issue as yesterday [with engine clipping], so not the perfect lead-up to the race from Saturday onwards. But nevertheless, we come out with some rewards.
Esteban Ocon was the 11th fastest driver through the Miami GP speed trap
Alpine certainly struggled for race pace in the Miami GP as Ocon and Gasly were only able to set the 16th and 17th fastest lap times. Ocon posted a 1:32.037 lap on Lap 51 of the 57 and Gasly set a 1:32.055 on L56. Oscar Piastri set the fastest lap time on L43 with his 1:30.634.
Only Valtteri Bottas (1:32.098, Lap 55), Daniel Ricciardo (1:32.122, L57) and Logan Sargeant (1:33.452, L15) posted worse personal-best lap times than the Alpine duo. Gasly and Ocon’s top speeds at the speed trap further only ranked in 10th (341.8 kmh) and 11th (341.7 kmh).
But while Ocon rued his lack of straight-line speed in the Miami GP, Piastri actually had the second-worst top speed. Only Ricciardo (336.7 kmh) hit the speed trap slower than Piastri (336.8 kmh). Miami GP winner Lando Norris also set the 14th-best top speed at 338.8 kmh.
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