Alpine make bold Mercedes, Ferrari prediction

Alpine Sporting Director Alan Permane has claimed the team will be ahead of Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Esteban Ocon delivered a stunning performance across the Monaco Grand Prix weekend to secure podium for a driver outside Red Bull, Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari this term.

The Frenchman had finished fourth-fastest in qualifying with only Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc faster, though the Ferrari driver was dropped three places on the grid for impeding McLaren's Lando Norris in Q3.

With confidence high after a positive performances in Miami and Monaco and asked what could be expected from the team at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this weekend, Permane told media, including RacingNews365.com: "More of the same.

"I don't think this is a Monaco special car, it is just the upgrades we put on for Imola and also for here... the car is working well.

"I fully expect to be in front of Mercedes and with Ferrari at the next race. Max is too far away, and when Checo is on his game, he will be as well.

"Fernando is going to be very difficult but I don't see why we can't race with Ferrari and Mercedes, which we have done [in Monaco] and as we did do in Miami as well.

"They were quicker than us ultimately, but we were in a race with them. That is where we are aiming for."

Alpine was one of a number of teams to add upgrades at Monaco after the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to flooding in the Italian region.

Insisting the trip to Spain would provide more clarity on the performance of the updates, Permane explained: "Monaco is obviously an outlier of a track and we are happy to have done well.

"We are expecting to do well in Barcelona and it will give us a much better understanding of the car.

"We have got another little upgrade coming there, as we will have most tracks, so that will go on and we will be able to measure a bit more accurately where that is."