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21/03/2024

French F1 Team Struggling to Catch Up After Transition to A524 Chassis

The⁣ French ​team slipped ⁣down F1’s pecking order in its transition to its new A524 chassis, and has failed to ⁣recapture ⁢its⁢ regular position in challenging for points from ⁣last season as the⁢ early-spec⁣ car has lacked outright pace.

This has coincided ‍with a wider performance gap between the top five teams and the bottom five, effectively‍ leaving the ⁤drivers in the latter group having to wait for retirements in order to claim points.

After the quintet of ‍Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren ‌ and Aston Martin locked out the top 10 in the Bahrain opener, Lance Stroll’s early retirement⁣ from the‌ Saudi Arabian Grand Prix opened an opportunity for a sixth team to trouble the ⁣scorers – which Haas and Nico Hulkenberg duly took in Jeddah.

Ocon says ‌that the current chasm ⁣in performance means that well-executed races will likely yield little in reward, which he admitted was tough to swallow.

“It’s the worst feeling you have, and I honestly hate that when you do a good weekend, and I’m not able to enter the top 10 and score points in​ the race,⁤ there’s no reward for you at the end,” Ocon ⁤said.

“But it’s up to us to try and figure out, ⁣and get more performance and get closer to these cars.”

“It’s tough to go through a weekend and push as hard ​as you can, also mentally to be doing the maximum, knowing that there could be no reward in the end.

“But it’s part of the job; you need to do the best you can with what you have ⁤in hand, and⁤ that’s why I’m here.”

RB’s Ricciardo Sees Hope in the Unpredictability of F1

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo ⁤was more hopeful in his assessment of the current pecking order, suggesting that any ⁣given circuit could create a situation where one of the top five teams⁢ falls down the order.

He used last year’s Mexican Grand Prix⁤ as ⁤an example, where the Australian put his ⁣car fourth on the grid despite the⁤ then-AlphaTauri team having been glued ⁤to the ​bottom of the constructors’ championship throughout most of 2023.

“My approach is ‍’maybe this track suits⁢ us more than the last ⁤track’; these things ‌can also be very track dependent,” the Australian remarked.

“You ‍know most of the time where the fast cars are, but Mexico last year⁣ we were last in constructors⁣ at the time I qualified fourth.

“Coming ​into⁣ that weekend, no one would have⁢ ever expected that.​ You can have a good weekend like that and drive well, whatever, but the car obviously works better in that circuit.

“So there’s always bit of hope that you also hold on to coming into every weekend, so I

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