Esteban Ocon may be worried Alpine’s new car for 2024 is "a little slow".
That is the worrying news emerging from the embattled Enstone and Viry-based team, off the back of a tumultuous 2023 season and reports the new car has failed a mandatory FIA crash test.
Renault-linked Alpine, embroiled in management, personnel and shareholding chaos last year, says it will reveal the 2024 machine publicly on February 7.
The event will take place at the same time as the reveal of Alpine’s new hypercar for the Le Mans-focused world endurance championship, involving new recruit Mick Schumacher.
The team will be without long-serving engineer and manager Alan Permane in 2024, who is currently being linked with a move to Alpha Tauri.
As for Alpine’s 2024 car, the Spanish sports newspaper Marca quotes Sky commentator David Croft as saying: "Esteban (Ocon) told me before Christmas that the 2024 car is a little slow."
It’s an alarming soundbite, but Frenchman Ocon is still hoping Alpine can emulate Aston Martin’s 2023 feat by making a major leap forwards this season.
"I don’t know if it’s realistic and to be honest I don’t care, but that’s what we have to look for. That’s where we have to aim," he is quoted as saying.
"We are not going to start the new year thinking any other way. Because otherwise we would never be winners," Ocon, 27, added.