Esteban Ocon has disclosed that Alpine will not be introducing upgrades to its Formula 1 car until past the summer break, although weight-saving parts will be added.
Alpine has endured a gruelling start to the season with an overweight and uncompetitive A524 challenger which has delivered five points from the opening nine races.
But while rivals have brought substantial updates to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Ocon has divulged that the Enstone-based squad’s car will remain unchanged.
With the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya representing a conventional track compared to recent venues, the Frenchman is intrigued to see where Alpine lies in the order.
“We’re not going to have any updates until summer break, around the shutdown,” Ocon revealed. “Before or after, if I’m correct.
“We have to try and maximise the potential of the car that we have in hand.
“There’s always a few things coming. We have new pitstop equipment. We have a few lightweight things coming in the car. But nothing major.
“That’s going to be a good test. We see that there’s going to be a lot of teams bringing upgrades to their car.
“It’s a good testing ground. We’ll see exactly where we are on normal conditions. I expect this weekend to be quite tough. Especially if the others make a jump.”
Alpine capitalised on a chaotic race in mixed conditions in Canada a fortnight ago to bag a double points finish, moving the team up to eighth place in the standings.
However, Ocon has warned that it would be premature to claim that the Anglo-French marque has now understood its problems despite moves in the right direction.
“We are moving forward. We are progressing. We are on top of things is a very strong statement,” he cautioned.
“I don’t think we’re on top of things. Because if we’re on top of things, we’ll be fighting for podiums and wins. And that’s not where we are.”
Ocon stated that Alpine’s deficit with its revised A524 is spread across the board but remains hopeful that it can be on the right side of close margins this weekend.
“I don’t think there is a good place for the car where we have fast and fast corners or slow and slow corners,” he explained. “I don’t think it is the case.
“We still have a few issues. Sometimes we get bouncing with the car at higher speeds and that can unsettle it.
“We know Barcelona so well that we are going to start with a pretty advanced setup already. I hope that we can find some more things during the weekend.
“Compared to Canada where everything was new and we had to start from quite further away.
“Hopefully we can discover some new things. It’s going to be very tight in quali. I hope we are going to be on the good end of things.”
Ocon also publicised that it will be team-mate Pierre Gasly’s turn to use the heavier chassis amid his revelation at the last round that the two have been alternating.
Asked whether he would be laboured with the heavier car in Barcelona, Ocon answered: “No, we’ve rotated, which probably the equal treatment statement comes from.
“So, no, I’m going to have Pierre’s car, basically, this weekend.”
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