Esteban Ocon has condemned Alpine’s decision not to run at the end of Q1 in qualifying for the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix as “not good enough” after both cars were eliminated.
Despite the onset of further rain ahead of a red flag in Q1 brought out following Sergio Perez’s crash into the wall at Turn 8, all teams except Alpine returned to the circuit in an effort to get past the crash zone.
It became apparent that the circuit was improving by the end of the session, by which time it was too late for Alpine to get any of their drivers out on track as they plummeted to the bottom five.
Ocon and Pierre Gasly landed at the back of the provisional grid for Sunday’s grand prix after initially looking moderately confident while ensconced in the midfield, with the former arguing that Alpine had missed a golden opportunity to try and take over the midfield at the Hungaroring.
“We were 10th when we went out on track and we thought we were going to be 17th, 18th, 16th maybe at best in this session, so we were obviously going all out in Q1,” Ocon explained.
“But we finished 10th and 12th, so it was better than we expected. We’ve done the right job so far, but we weren’t there when the conditions were the best.”
Esteban Ocon, Alpine A524
Photograph by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“And this is the second weekend in a row where we’ve made these strategy mistakes. Three years ago, we were making the right mistakes.”
“I don’t know what we did wrong today, but it’s clear that it’s not good enough, especially considering the level of performance of the car. We have to do things perfectly and today we were going to be able to make it to Q2.”
Team boss Bruno Famin admitted the team had made a “big mistake”
“What happened is that we had an interesting opportunity and we made a big mistake,” Famin said. “We didn’t assess the situation well. We thought that the track, which was wet, wouldn’t dry enough to improve the lap time, as we weren’t that bad and we were ready for Q2.”
“I think we wanted to keep the new set of tyres. And by focusing on that, we forgot about the bigger picture. The bigger picture was to get to Q2 and then, yeah, we made a mistake.
“We had one minute to react between the first improvement in the sector and the possibility of exiting and we didn’t take advantage of it. Yes, it was a big mistake. We have to learn from it, change our process, maybe our decision, but simply to make sure that this kind of big mistake doesn’t happen again.”
He added: “At the last minute we knew what was going to happen, but yes, you realise you made a mistake. There is nothing to do. So, let’s fight, let’s fight tomorrow. We know it’s not going to be easy, but I think we have to react as a team, be strong, learn, do our best, have a good race in Spa and finish on a good note before the summer break.”
Ocon added: “The team made the decision not to run either car and to save the last set (of soft tyres) we had for Q2.”
He also suggested that, amid light rain, the effect of DRS being deactivated was on the minds of Alpine’s strategists; when asked if the drivers were able to make their own decision, Ocon explained that the team’s call to remain in the garage was firm.
“DRS was disabled, so that’s probably one of the issues that made the team not think a bit about going out and improving,” he said.
“But if you think about it, we’re doing (1m)17.5 in P3. There would be room for improvement even if DRS was off.
Esteban Ocon, Alpine F1 Team
Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“I tried to remove the screen once I put it back on because then I need to see the cars and what they’re doing on the track.
“The decision was strict and we didn’t go out, so I trusted the team. But things probably need to be different for the future. As a strategy we have in place, a track that improves will always be a team decision and a track that gets worse will always be a driver decision.
“Obviously we have the lap time cross-checked, so it’s pretty clear which tyres are better and in what conditions the track is run.
“It’s something we’ve had in place since 2020 and it’s always worked since then. But today it didn’t work. I think 12th or 13th place would have been possible.”
Additional information from Ben Hunt
