Esteban Ocon hopes tyre strategy will bring Alpine back into a points-paying position, after failing to make it through to Q3 in Japanese Grand Prix qualifying. The Frenchman could only manage a lap time that was good enough for 14th on the grid, starting behind both AlphaTauri's and the Williams of Alex Albon. It is the ninth time that he has failed to progress through to the top ten shootout so far in 2023 while team-mate Pierre Gasly also failed to progress and will start in 12th. "We didn't make as much of a step as we did in Singapore from Friday to Saturday, so not enough progress," Ocon told F1 TV . "It's a shame to be that far off the points starting tomorrow, but we have a different tyre allocation to some others [after] saving more our tyres."
Alpine gamble on tyre strategy
Many drivers had to use more than one set of tyres during each part of qualifying, owing to the high track evolution and degradation. Having saved an extra two sets of Soft tyres because they did not run them in Q3, Ocon believes they will have an advantage in what is expected to be a race that features multiple pit stops. "We'll see where that leads us in the race," he added. "Hopefully it will be an advantage, that usually brings opportunities. So we hope that it will be a good thing."
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