Ocon had one of his “most difficult Sundays of the year” in F1 Russian GP

Ocon finished the race in 14th despite starting from inside the top 10.

The Frenchman struggled for pace throughout, having been stuck behind Williams’ George Russell before the rain hit in the closing laps.

“Probably one of the most difficult Sundays of the year,” Ocon said after the race. “I think the positive was the start and the first couple of laps, that was pretty good. I gained a bit of ground at the start and we managed to stick in a good position for the first couple of laps but after that it was pretty tricky pace-wise. 

“We were lacking quite a lot of lap time lap-by-lap and losing ground to the car in front, not being able to attack or defend against any of them to be fair. Quite a lot of things for us to review, quite a lot of work before getting to Turkey, but we will find what was wrong at this race and come back stronger at the next one.”

It was a stark contrast to Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso, who was running third at one point before a late switch to intermediates dropped him to sixth.

Ocon revealed that the two cars were running a similar set-up.

“The cars were very similar in terms of set-up at the last three or four races - pretty much identical - but there’s been quite a lot of deviation at this race and we don’t have the same comments anymore from this race. We have a couple of ideas what it could be, and we're looking at fixing it for the next race.

“I feel good at the wheel, like I’ve been feeling good at Monza or Zandvoort the same. So there is no particular reason on my side.”