A podium finish by Esteban Ocon in the Monaco Grand Prix is an ‘immense reward’ for Alpine after a difficult start to 2023.

Ocon qualified strongly on Saturday, recording the fourth-best time before moving up a spot once Charles Leclerc was penalised for baulking Lando Norris.

He then held that position at the start, going on to fend off the advances of Lewis Hamilton in the latter stages to secure his first podium since his victory in Hungary in 2021.

It also comes after a difficult start to the season that saw Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi criticise the squad in the media last time out in Miami.

The team responded well, with Pierre Gasly also in the points in seventh.

Their combined tally of 21 points in Monaco shoots it clear of McLaren into fifth in the constructors’ championship.

“I’m speechless at the moment. I’m a little bit on my cloud, still,” Ocon said.

“Before the weekend, if you told us that we’re going to be in the top 10, we would have been happy. It would have been a strong weekend.

“But we are not in the top 10; we’re not in the top five, we’re on the podium.

“We had a difficult start to the season, but I felt strong in the car from the first session. I felt confident at the wheel,” he added.

“I was able to push, session after session, closer to the limit than I’m usually doing in Monaco.

“That allowed me to do the lap I did yesterday, which is obviously 90 percent of the job.”

Sunday’s race started dry but always had the threat of rain looming over it.

That arrived with just under 30 laps remaining, initially landing on the northern end of the circuit before engulfing the entire 3.337km venue.

Ocon had spent the opening laps battling with Carlos Sainz before the Ferrari driver went deep at the Nouvelle Chicane and tagged the back of the Alpine.

It left the Spaniard with a broken front wing, while Ocon carried damage for the balance of the race.

Shortly after mid-distance, the rain arrived.

Having stopped for the first time on Lap 32 for a set of hard tyres, having started on the mediums, Ocon switched onto the inters on Lap 54.

“Today has been a little bit of a harder race,” Ocon explained.

“We hold that podium for a while, we had it secure, but I got a touch from Carlos [Sainz] at one stage, got damage on the back of the car.

“Then the rain shuffled everything again, and we have to choose to take the inters at the right time.

“From there on, I was under a huge amount of pressure from Lewis.

“Until the last lap, he was pushing flat out; he was quicker in the wet section from [Turn] 5 to 8, and I was quick on the dry sections.

“It’s been an incredibly tough race to get under control, but the reward is immense.”