Consistency is the keyword that Esteban Ocon would use to describe his Saturday in Jeddah. The French driver, started the day closing in P9 free practice 3, and took home the same position for tomorrow’s race.

After a very strong showing in Qatar, Alpine seem a little less competitive this weekend but Ocon managed to get his car into Q3 and is set to start tomorrow's race right behind Yuki Tsunoda as the team attempts to fend off AlphaTauri in the Constructors' Championship..

Soon after qualifying session he commented: “I’m pretty happy with today’s Qualifying in ninth place. I was pleased with my laps and, as a team, we’ve worked really well this weekend. I’ve got the confidence in the car, which is needed around here in order to really push on the low fuel laps.”

Unfortunately the other Alpine driver, the world champion Fernando Alonso, couldn’t make it and was cut out in Q2. Ocon commented on this: “It’s a shame we couldn’t put both cars into Q3, but we had a quick car in FP2 and hopefully we can carry that into the race with both Fernando and I aiming to score.”

On what he and his team expect from tomorrow’s race, he said: ”It’s going to be a long race tomorrow. It’s very hot, a very busy lap, maybe similar to Singapore in terms of physicality, but I’m looking forward to it. We’ll see what we can do from ninth on the grid and we’ll give it our best for another solid team result.”