Ocon admits: 'I did probably underestimate it'

Esteban Ocon had a good season at Alpine. The Frenchman finished 11th in the world championship and even won a race at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Nevertheless, he sees plenty of opportunities to improve at the team.

With Alonso, Ocon has a teammate from whom he can learn a lot since 2021. The two-time world champion experienced successful seasons in the past and therefore knows better than anyone what is needed to get everything out of the team. Ocon learns a lot from the experience that Alonso brings to the team, he told The Race.

"It’s not easy to fit [together] all the details in Formula 1, but I did probably underestimate how much time it would take me to come back to my full potential after the year out," he revealed in the interview. "I feel like I’m not completely there yet but it’s not far off. So I want to keep going."

Alpine's handsome performance in 2021

The French racing team was also successful in the constructors' championship. Alpine competed with AlphaTauri for fifth place in the rankings and managed to gain thirteen more points than its rival. The gap to number four McLaren was 120 points.