Esteban Ocon isn’t concerned about his poor qualifying record against Daniel Ricciardo this season.
The Frenchman’s return to the grid after a year away hasn’t quite met the expectations some had hoped as he has only beaten his Renault teammate once in qualifying and the race in nine races.
On a Saturday, his only success came in the wet qualifying at the second race in Austria, but Ocon explained why that doesn’t tell the full story.
“It has been quite close in some events,” he said via Motorsport Week. “A bit less close [at others] and some others where we faced issues with the car and how comfortable I felt in it.
“It is true that is been difficult a bit this season in some of the aspects.
“[At Mugello] it was not the case. I felt very comfortable behind the wheel. We were matching the whole qualifying and it was going to be up to that last Q3 run [before spinning].”
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Indeed, for Ocon, the Tuscan Grand Prix was seen as somewhat of a breakthrough in solving the issues he’s been facing.
“It is definitely in terms of set-up and the choices we have made, and just for understanding what we needed from the car,” he said. “That is definitely what we struggled on.
“There were also a few times where I was losing a lot of straight-line speed, so that lasted two or three runs, which made us lose time. We had long discussions and what we should do to improve that.
“[At Mugello] it has paid off because the performance was good. I’m very satisfied with the weekend.
“I think in terms of pace against Daniel I think we were matching all the way through the weekend in practice and in qualifying. So this is what I am going to look for in the future events.”
After the first nine races, Ocon sits 23 points behind Ricciardo with a best finish of fifth at Spa.