We put everything together when it mattered' – Ocon thrilled with return to the points in Monaco

A range of scenarios were in play around the narrow, twisty streets of Monte Carlo as two mandatory pit stops were introduced to discourage long stints of tyre management and open up more strategic choices to counteract the lack of overtaking opportunities.

While each team approached the new rule differently, the strategy executed by Ocon’s side of the garage saw him build on his strong Qualifying performance of P8 and gain a position to finish P7, taking six points home.

This improvement was only possible due to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso retiring from the race further ahead, but the timing of the Frenchman’s pit stops on Laps 16 and 28 helped him to secure a crucial points haul in the developing midfield battle.

“I think it’s been a great weekend all around,” Ocon said following the race. “We really didn’t put a foot wrong from Qualifying to the race.

“We put everything together when it mattered, so really happy for that. It’s six points for the team which is a big thing, so I’m really satisfied with this.

“We did make a lot of progress all the way to Qualifying. This is super positive and we need to take that into account and really look into how we can get more consistency out of the other weekends.”

Looking ahead to the final weekend of this European triple header, he added: “Barcelona will be a very different circuit – a lot more downforce bias and more engine bias. We’ll see what we can get but so far we’ll take this one.”