Esteban Ocon has revealed that the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix is very important for Alpine. The race will determine if the upgrades that were implemented in Portugal and Italy have worked. This will also establish the success of its future races.
Alpine managed to score double points in Portugal after Ocon came in seventh and his teammate Fernando Alonso came in eighth. The reason for this was the team’s significant development package for Imola and Portimao.
Round 4 will see the team competing in Barcelona which be like a litmus test for the outfit.
“If they translate here, it’s going to be a good season for us, so I think it’s going to be a very important weekend,” Ocon said.
“I think the car was nice to drive on the tricky track with very low grip. I think stability was pretty decent from entry of the corners to mid-corner. I think everyone was struggling a bit in traction but I think it gave us the confidence to push in quali and in the race it was working well.”
Heading into Spain, Alpine is currently fifth in the constructors’ standings and 39 points behind Ferrari.
Ocon, however, feels that the upgrades have improved the atmosphere in the team.
“It’s been a great weekend,” he said of Portugal. “Very pleased with the progress that we made from the first race to the third race. We made a little step in Imola with the upgrades we got and we continue working, digging and searching for what we could do to optimise what we have… and definitely made a step in Portimao.
“We are coming here in Barcelona feeling good, there’s a good atmosphere in the team; of course, it had been a tough weekend for us last year here so we are going to push to turn that around and continue our improvements.”
Just last year, Renault missed out on points in Spain when Ocon came in 13th and his then-teammate Daniel Ricciardo came in 11th.
However, with a newly-upgraded A521, Alpine hope to bring a lot more to the battle.
Do you think Alpine will be able to leave a mark in Spain? Let us know in the comments below!
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