by F1 correspondent Michael Butterworth

SHANGHAI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Alpine Formula One driver Esteban Ocon says he realized as long ago as November last year that his team would be in for a difficult 2024 season.

Having finished sixth in the 2023 Constructors' Championship with 120 points, Alpine have slipped back this year, failing to score a single point across the first five Grands Prix of 2024, and occasionally propping up the timesheets in practice and qualifying sessions.

Alpine's lack of competitiveness was laid bare at the season's first Grand Prix in Bahrain, when Ocon and teammate Pierre Gasly locked out the last row of the starting grid and finished 17th and 18th, but Ocon told Xinhua that he had already been expecting a tough year.

"We saw very quickly from the simulator times in November [2023] that we didn't make enough of a step [with the 2024 car], that is clear," said Ocon.

"Until you put the car down in qualifying, you can't be sure that's going to be the case, but driving it now, it's not a harder car than it was to drive [in 2023]. It's just the other [teams] have made a step forward, and we didn't do enough."

Ocon was speaking to Xinhua just before the Chinese Grand Prix, in which he and Gasly both made it through to the second segment of Qualifying for the first time, before finishing 11th and 13th respectively in Sunday's race.

The Frenchman added that he could have scored points at the Australian Grand Prix, before his race was ruined by an extra pit stop in order to remove a visor tear-off that had become lodged in a brake duct. Can he see improvements in the A524 from Bahrain until now?

"Yes," the Frenchman replied. "I think we've clearly [improved since Bahrain], and we were able to maximise the potential of the car on quite a few occasions, and we were almost going to score points in Australia as well [but for] that tear-off in the brake duct.

"We made some steps forward, we also made some steps backwards, so it's not an easy situation. You try different things, and it doesn't always work."

Ocon added that while Alpine had identified the main weaknesses of the A524, he cautioned that there were several areas of the car that needed fixing, and said it would not prove to be a quick job.

"We did identify [the problems]. Obviously, fixing it is not going to be an overnight change. It's going to take time and dedication, but the good thing is we have found the issues of the car, and we need to try and do the best we can," said Ocon, who noted that small margins can make a huge difference.

"In [the space of] two- or three-tenths [of a second per lap], there's five or six positions," said Ocon.

"Every [team] is developing at the same time, so you need to out-develop the others, and that's why sometimes you make a step forward, and you don't see it, because others have done it as well."

Along with 11 other drivers, Ocon is currently out of contract for 2025, and with drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso having recently secured their places on the grid for next year, Ocon said he too wanted his future sorted soon.

The Frenchman notably sat out the 2019 season after being dropped by Force India at the end of 2018 before being signed by Alpine's precursor team Renault in 2020, and said he was confident of securing a seat in 2025 if he performed to his best level this year.

"It's very important to be as secure as early as you can. I've seen in 2018 that it can be a very tricky sport, but I need to be focusing on my job, and if I do that well, there should be no problems to find opportunities for next year," said Ocon, who hinted that he was considering other options than remaining with Alpine.

"I believe in the Alpine project. I've been part of this team for a long time, but in F1 you never know where you will end up," added the Frenchman.

"For now, I'm fully dedicated to Alpine, and for the future, we will see." Enditem

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