Ocon talking at the Dutch GP — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 Superstars

Furious Ocon names the 'ONLY' positive from Alpine's Dutch GP

The French driver was unimpressed with team choices at the Dutch Grand Prix

Lauren Sneath

Tuesday 29 August 2023 21:27

A frustrated Esteban Ocon has spoken out how he felt the extreme wet tyre was ‘not the right tyre at any moment’ after Alpine chose to fit his car with the tyre variation during the Dutch Grand Prix.

The French driver began the race in P16 and only finished in P11 after disastrous weather and difficult decisions on pit stops and tyres did not go his way.

Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, had a very positive race and finished in third place, ending a two-year podium drought. Ocon complained later that decisions over which tyre compound to use impacted his race, saying that full wet tyres are never the better option because they are simply ’slower’.

Article continues under video

In fact, once he had been fitted with the tyres during the wet race, Ocon even came over the team radio to say: “This is the worst decision guys, f***ing hell.”

After the race, he conceded that he ‘wasn’t happy with the call of the full wets’ and discussed other factors in the difficult race.

Pierre Gasly managed third place in the Dutch Grand Prix

He said, as reported by Autosport: “First of all, congratulations to Pierre and his side of the garage.

“I think they’ve done a super job to bring the team the second podium this season. So, that’s very positive. And probably the only positive of this weekend.

“On my side, the car wasn’t feeling better. But we still fought hard enough from 16th to sixth, it was going super well, [we] took risks. There were some big battles out there, and I always managed to make my way through, so that was really good.

“But unfortunately, we let these points just slip away at the end. I wasn’t happy with the call of the full wets. But also we boxed one lap too late.

“The tyres were not ready in the garage for me to box at the lap that I asked on the radio. So I had to stay out on slicks when it was wet and lost five positions. So went from sixth to 11th.”

Ocon: Full wets should mean a red flag

Ocon was insistent that the full wet tyre was the wrong choice, saying that perhaps had he been in a dominant Red Bull car it could have worked out.

He explained: “No, it was not the right tyre at any moment. First, when you have a Red Bull, you have some margin in the front. We don’t have any margin. If Red Bull fitting the extreme wets showed that they were the correct tyre at the time.

“And the second thing is, if you have to put the full wets, it’s a red flag. And it happened.

“There is no point at any point where the full wet is a better tyre because it’s slower. And if it’s the right condition for the full wets, it’s not the right condition to drive an F1 car.”