F1 pundit reveals damning prediction current driver made against own team

Sky Sports F1 pundit David Croft has revealed that Esteban Ocon recently told the broadcaster that his Alpine team are likely to be 'a little bit slow' in 2024.

The Enstone-based outfit are heading into 2024 with the hope of improving on their less than impressive form last season.

They only managed to claim two podiums and were seriously hampered by issues with their power unit as they failed to make an impression on the top five in the constructors' championship.

The tumultuous season led to an array of departures, with a mass exodus of key personnel - including team principal Otmar Szafnauer - taking place midway through the season.

New driver Pierre Gasly was left frustrated with the team's lack of performance but, with a whole host of superstar investors recently being announced, and a new team principal in Bruno Famin, there was hope that 2024 would be a fresh start.

Alpine's underperformance

Now, Croft has suggested that negativity around the team has started already ahead of 2024, with Ocon revealing some hard truths.

“I don’t know how it’s all going behind the scenes, you know, a wheel has not even turned yet at this point," Croft told crowds at an Autosport International event.

“[But] Esteban Ocon said he believes the Alpine is a little bit slow, he told me that before Christmas, but I don’t know who’s in really good shape.

“I do think going into this year, Red Bull is obviously going to be in decent shape because they’ve just finessed what was superb last year,” he continued.

“But then you’ve got Ferrari who says their car is going to be 95 percent different to last year. So heaven only knows what we’re gonna get from Ferrari on that one.

“You’ve got Aston Martin who needs to put right what went wrong in the back end of last year or the middle part of last year and get back to where they were at the start.

“Then you’ve got McLaren. McLaren are fantastic – their revival last year was like Lazarus. They were at the bottom of the Championship after three races and, by the end of it, Lando and Oscar were the closest things to Max – which was mega.”

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