Ocon registered the first point-scoring finish of the year for the French squad after finishing 10th in last Sunday’s race.
The result marked the end of a point-less run that stretched to the 2023 Las Vegas GP for Alpine, which has struggled this year as a result of an overweight car that has failed to be competitive.
Miami was the first grand prix where the team finally met the minimum weight limit thanks to the introduction of an upgrade package that Alpine said was worth around two-tenths per lap.
Ocon was positive about the step forward considering where Alpine started the season, but conceded a 10th place was nothing to write home about.
“We don’t want to be jumping around and celebrating too hard,” the Frenchman insisted.
“Obviously, it’s only a top 10. But considering where we were a couple of races ago in Bahrain, 19th and 20th, I think we can take the positive out of this race.
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“The baby steps that we are doing at the moment and that obviously feels good because the team kept motivated trying to understand what is going on with our pace, and it hasn’t been the smoothest weekend, I would say.
“But it’s two races that we’ve come close to the points: 11th in Shanghai, 10th today – we are inside the points, and definitely feels good to come out of this weekend with some reward.”
Ocon and team-mate Pierre Gasly had enjoyed their strongest qualifying performance of the year in Miami, lining up 13th and 12th on the grid respectively.
The Frenchman feels Alpine is still stronger in qualifying trim, and reckons Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg could have threatened his position, the German recovering from 14th to 11th after making his second stop under safety-car conditions.
“I think we are still better in qualifying than we are in the race,” Ocon said. “I think today if you leave 10 more laps probably Nico would have been very close and fighting with us again.
“I had to fight my way through in that race. It was insane how many moves I had to do and the fact that we’re struggling with the straightline speed as well didn’t help too much.
“So not the perfect lead up to the race from Saturday onwards, but nevertheless, we come up with some reward.”
Its first point of the year means Alpine is now eighth in the standings ahead of Sauber and Williams, who are yet to score.
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