Esteban Ocon feeling upbeat as Alpine look strong in Australia practice

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon could not deny that things are looking in good shape for him and his team ahead of the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

Friday practice has been and gone in Melbourne and the 2022 theme of Ferrari and Red Bull looking strongest continued in both sessions.

However, Alpine looked potentially the third quickest team with both cars inside the top ten in FP1 and then inside the top six in FP2 – with the latter session the best indicator of potential performance in qualifying.

Indeed, Fernando Alonso was fourth fastest and Ocon sixth, with the top six cars the only ones to dip under the 1:20.000 lap time around Albert Park and, though it is early in the weekend, Ocon admits that things are looking fairly decent for his team right now.

Speaking to F1, Ocon said:

“It’s been pretty decent, obviously both cars are in the top ten for both sessions and we’ve discovered a lot on this track… [there are] some great challenges with some great fast corners and we look pretty okay at the moment but it is only Friday.”

Ocon was then asked if Alpine had been looking to really target the reconfigured sector two with its high-speed blast as an area they could gain lap-time, with them looking strong through there, and the Frenchman admitted that was the case.

“I think so, we tried a few things between the cars to optimise the aero platform through there and it seems to have worked but tomorrow is when we need to put it together and release the power.”

An intriguing session on Saturday awaits, then, and though you’d probably not expect to see an Alpine on pole for Sunday’s race just yet, it is clear that they are making good progress with their A522.

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