Esteban Ocon takes another points finish home for the Alpine team. The car looked in good shape ever since the beginning of the 2022 season and they were again this weekend in Melbourne.

However, it was a case of 'what could have been' for the Enstone-based team as Fernando Alonso had looked to be in the running for a top 3 position in qualifying until a reliability problem meant he crashed in Q3. 

Despite the result, Ocon does not seem very pleased as he thinks the team could have achieved more; indeed, he said: “I’m not as pleased as in the last races. A lot more would have been possible this weekend. But there was a big train of cars we were stuck behind." 

Indeed, Ocon got stuck behind the Williams of Alex Albon as the Thai driver pitted at the beginning of the final lap after doing almost the whole race on hard tyres. It resulted in the Frenchman having no chance to race the McLarens in the closing stages. 

Ocon continued: "It’s a shame because I think P5 was possible. A lot of positive things to take but I’m not very happy.”

Alpine showed great pace in these first races, and until now seemed not to have problems in any circuit F1 has raced in: “We seem to be competitive each weekend. Until now we have been in shape in each type of track, and we have been consistent. It’s obviously what we want, and we have to push the car to the limit every weekend to try new things as we did today. Sometimes maybe this we’ll be good, sometimes it won’t, and we’ll take a step back, but at least we’ll understand more about the car. I’m happy with what we’ve done overall.”

Ocon is already thinking on the upcoming races. He said: “I’m hungry for more and excited for the next races. I’ve been in the points in three out of three races, and I’m leaving Australia satisfied with how my season started.”