While, on Pierre Gasly's side, optimism is in order for this weekend in Las Vegas, Esteban Ocon is more mixed. In EL1 and EL2, the Frenchman finished in 14th and 12th position, compared to two places in the top 10 for his teammate. In addition to the slippery circuit and the difficulty in warming the tires, Ocon deplores a notable lack of pace on a dry track, a problem noticed since the United States Grand Prix.
The Alpine driver has had a string of eliminations in Q1 and Q2 since the return of F1 in October, where Gasly had three consecutive appearances in Q3. The only exception was Ocon's fourth place in São Paulo, although on a wet circuit.
“It’s always difficult here, with the tires, trying to get good grip”explained the Norman. “But yeah, we seem to be struggling. Since Austin, [nous avons du mal avec] the pace on the dry on our side [du garage]. This is what we are trying to improve. But for the moment, we are not at the top yet, there are still things to explore.”
Ocon therefore knows that there is still a lot of work to do on his side, nevertheless noting a little positive: “There's a lot of things we need to focus on. But our pace isn't where we want it to be at the moment. And yes, that's obviously a priority.”
“Luckily, like I said, it's pretty tough on the tires here, so that's the one thing we can make a difference on. But yeah, there's going to be a lot of work for us to do.”
During the previous edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Ocon managed to climb from 16th place on the grid to fourth at the checkered flag. The Frenchman notably took advantage of a certain chaos during the start, while managing to keep his tires well, unlike his competitors who had not been able to do the same.
“Tyre degradation will be a big factor during the race, which can help us in some way, as it did last year”he explained. “So yeah, we'll try to focus on that. And hopefully we'll have a good race on Sunday.”
With Oleg Karpov
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