Ocon: Alpine F1 chassis change has removed ‘all doubts’

After starting the season strongly with four points finishes in the opening five races, Ocon’s form dipped as he failed to finish in the top ten in the subsequent four races.

In a bid to find his form, Alpine handed him a new chassis while changing a host of parts to cure any potential deficiencies.

Ocon returned to the points at Silverstone, finishing ninth, just four seconds behind teammate Fernando Alonso.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Ocon said: “I mean straight away when we put the car down for FP1 we saw that everything was working back to how it felt three races ago and that’s very good news.

“It was a big effort from the team to try and diagnose what the issues were and what to change. So doubts are out of the way now and everything is working as it should. I am not going to go into details but there were a lot of different parts that we changed together with the chassis, it was not only the chassis but when you take the chassis out you check all the components that go with it.

“It’s been a good thing to rebuild the car, check exactly if everything was correct and rebuild it fresh basically. All the doubts are gone in this way.”

The Hungaroring has often been described as ‘Monaco without the barriers’ due to its tight, twisty nature and overtaking is very difficult.

Ocon is excited for the weekend ahead and qualifying in particular.

“I’ve always liked the track here,” Ocon added. “It’s always been one of my favourites. I have great memories from the past here. Just having some quali laps with different cars. I think it’s a good flow and a driver can make the difference overall.

“It’s not a great track for racing because it’s hard to overtake in Turn 1 and Turn 2 but definitely, just to drive and to enjoy, with the flow you have with the car and the quali lap exercise, it’s one of the best. Saturday is going to be an exciting day for me.”