Losing Jeddah F1 podium on the line “hard to swallow” for Ocon

Ocon was overtaken by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas on the final lap in Jeddah having run in the podium places for much of the race.

Starting from ninth on the grid, Ocon moved up to seventh after making a storming start.

Alpine gambled and kept Ocon out when the Safety Car was deployed, which was later converted into a red flag, allowing it to have a free switch of tyres. 

Ocon found himself in the lead of the race after Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen came to blows on the first restart, before relinquishing the lead as the two title rivals eventually got through.

“Don't push me - I'm gonna cry,” Ocon told Sky Sports. “We gave it everything we could today. We took all the right choices, the car was spot on - it was mega to drive. 

“We gained two places in the first lap, two places in the second lap, started on pole on the last one obviously. I let the first two [Hamilton and Verstappen] through because I knew I could not keep them behind. And then we won that third place for a very, very long time, five metres from the end, probably.

“That was what cost us the podium. It's hard to swallow, the competitor inside me is frustrated and very sad, but if you would have told us we would finish fourth I would have been happy.”

With Fernando Alonso finishing on the podium last time out in Qatar and Ocon nearly doing so in Saudi Arabia, the Frenchman has sent a warning to the rest of the F1 grid.

“So it's part of the plan, as Fernando would say,” he added. “We are ticking boxes, we are extracting the most out of the car. 

“Today was an outstanding team effort once again and I'm pleased. Once we have car pace we are going to be dangerous. So far we are not ready yet, but we are working towards it.”