Sky Sports F1 lead commentator David Croft has revealed that Esteban Ocon told him late last year that Alpine’s 2024 Formula 1 car was “a little bit slow” at that stage.
Having secured a coveted fourth spot in the Constructors’ Championship upon F1’s return to ground effect machinery in 2022, Alpine slumped to sixth place last season.
The Anglo-French marque dropped behind Aston Martin and McLaren after enduring a tumultuous campaign with an A523 machine that failed to elevate its competitiveness.
Alpine Technical Director Matt Harman has confirmed that the team is progressing with plans to unveil a “front to back” brand-new car, which will be launched on 7 February.
But while Ocon also stated Alpine could replicate McLaren’s remarkable resurgence, Croft relays how the Frenchman has now been more cautious about its prospects.
“So my real hope for this year is that we actually get a Mercedes car that is a bit more on par with the Red Bull,” Croft said when previewing 2024 at Autosport International.
“I don’t know how it’s all going behind the scenes, you know, a wheel has not even turned yet at this point.
“[But] Esteban Ocon said he believes the Alpine is a little bit slow, he told me that before Christmas, but I don’t know who’s in really good shape.”
Expanding on who he predicts to be strong in 2024, Croft couldn’t look beyond the Red Bull squad who dominated last season en route to winning 21 out of 22 races and both titles.
The 53-year-old then admitted that he was unsure about placing an expectation on Ferrari’s chances amid the declaration that “95 per cent” of components will change.
“I do think going into this year, Red Bull is obviously going to be in decent shape because they’ve just finessed what was superb last year,” Croft added.
“But then you’ve got Ferrari who says their car is going to be 95 per cent different to last year. So heaven only knows what we’re going get from Ferrari on that one.
“You’ve got Aston Martin who needs to put right what went wrong in the middle part of last year and get back to where they were at the start.
“Then you’ve got McLaren. McLaren are fantastic – their revival last year was like Lazarus.
“They were at the bottom of the Championship after three races and, by the end of it, Lando and Oscar were the closest things to Max – which was mega.”
