The admission was shared by David Croft,🍒 the Sky Sports F1 broadcaster, who revealed what👍 Ocon told him in a private conversation.

Alpine finished sixth in the 2023 F1 constructors’ championship but seemingly Oconꦇ fears they might not progress beyond midfield this year.

“I don’t know how it’s al𝓀l going behind the scenes,” Crofty said at the Autosport International Show, the report.

“A wheel has ꧒not even turned yet at this point.&🤪nbsp;

“Esteban Ocon said he believes the Alpine i🍸s a little bit slow. 

“H༺e told me that before Christmas. But I don’t know who’s in reall🌠y good shape…”

Ocon and teammate Pierre Gasly both featured𒁏 on the podium last year but Alpine😼 did not make the huge strides forwards that they may have wished for.

The development of Aston Martin and McLaren at va♔rious stages of last season was a stark reminder to Alpine of what could have been.

Theꦍre were also huge behind-the-scenes changes as CEO Laurent Rossi, team principal Ottmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane all departed.

But despite big financial investment from a consortium which includes Ryan Reynolds, Anthony Joshua and Rory McIlroy, Ocon’s early fears do not bo𓄧de well.

Crofty went on to consider how the winter development could change the pecking order th🐠is year.

“My real hope for this year is that we actua🎃lly get a Mercedes car that is a bit more on par with the Red Bull,” he said.

”I do think t𝄹hat going into this📖 year, Red Bull are obviously going to be in decent shape. They have just finished what was a superb last year.

“You’ve got Ferrari who say their car is goi🐽ng to be 95% different to last year’s. 

“So heaven only knows what we’re going to get from Ferrari on꧅ that o🃏ne

“Aston Martin needs to put right what went wrong in the middle part of las♏t year and get back to where they were at the start. 

“Then you’ve got McLaren. McL🌄aren are fantastic! Their revival last year was like Lazarus."