One of Alpine’s great flaws at the start of the season was that they didn’t know how to take chances, bringing home heavy points. We saw it in Bahrain, Australia and Baku, but Monaco finally represented one of those weekends in which the French team was able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together, hitting a podium as unexpected as it was beautiful.
After the third place achieved in qualifying, albeit assisted by the penalty inflicted on Charles Leclerc, the Alpine team and Esteban Ocon realized the great chance in the best possible way, reasoning on a functional race strategy executed to perfection by the French driver. The Enstone team was aware that, to keep the chances of a podium alive, it would have had to keep the group compact so that the rivals would not find that window to make a pit stop and attempt an undercut.
Ocon withstood well the assaults of the riders behind him, in particular by Carlos Sainz, also identifying the perfect moment in which to return to the pits to put on the intermediate tyres. A decisive move that allowed him to anticipate the Ferrari drivers, thus securing the third step of the podium.
Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team, 3rd position
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
For the Alpine rider, already winner of the 2021 Hungarian GP, this is the third podium of his career, the first this season: “We did it, it was a superb weekend from all the team members, from day one, to the simulator, to every practice session, we improved the car from start to finish and we didn’t miss a beat. Also when we put on the intermediate tires it was the perfect time to do it. Now I’m enjoying the moment, it’s been a while since I’ve been on the podium and I hope this is the first of many others,” explained Ocon, the first Frenchman to stand on the podium in Monte Carlo since the historic victory of Olivier Panis in 1996.
For the Monaco appointment, the transalpine team showed up with a substantial package of technical innovations, but the biggest surprise was seeing the A523 fast right from the very first stages. The work in the factory on the simulator paid off, with an excellent pre-weekend preparation which allowed us to concentrate solely on the details once we got to the track.
On a twisty and narrow track like Monaco, this aspect can make the difference, giving the drivers the confidence to find a few cents more in terms of performance: “Yes, that’s it”, replied Ocon when asked if you were surprised at the performance of the car.
Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team A523
Photo by: Alpine
“I believe that, starting from the completed days on the simulator and all the practice sessions, we have improved step by step and never stopped doing it. It was a very different weekend to my usual Monaco weekends, where I wasn’t afraid to approach the walls. And that’s what we did. And yes, we were extremely surprised.”
“But I think we should keep our feet on the ground right now. Obviously we are on the podium, we will enjoy everything together. And yes, I want to thank the whole team, obviously Enstone, Viry, the team here at the track. The podium, not the win, not yet! The podium is everything to them”.
However, there will be little time to celebrate given that next weekend Formula 1 will move to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix, an appointment that the teams are now very familiar with and which generally represents a good testing ground for the car: “We made some updates (in Monaco) which were supposed to be quite small, but everything we brought goes in the right direction today. Yes, the sensations have been definitely good and I hope this is the start of something, but I think we need to keep our feet on the ground and see where we are next weekend. It will be a good test,” added the French rider.
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