Double points for BWT Alpine F1 Team as Pierre finishes eighth and Esteban ninth in Miami heat

Ona one-stop Hard to Medium plan, the latter stage of the race was where Estebanlooked to gain places. After an impressive opening stint where he ran as highas third place, the Frenchman settled for ninth with an uneventful race to theline after his late stop for Mediums.

Race

Esteban started on NewHards (L39 pit-stop for New Mediums); Fastest Lap: 1:31.143

Pierre started onNew Mediums (L15 pit-stop for New Hards; Fastest Lap: 1:31.971

EstebanOcon, started P8, finished P9: “It’s good to be back in the points with both cars after adecent race for the team today. We opted for the more aggressive strategy bygoing long on Hard tyres in the first stint and it did not quite pay off in theend. We had some good battles with Ferrari and Mercedes with a couple of goodovertakes throughout. Our pace was strong so that is encouraging going forward.We are satisfied with our job today as I don’t think we could have done muchmore. Of course, there are things for us to review and improve but it’s a longseason and I’m looking forward to the upcoming triple header in Europe where weneed to string together three positive races.”

Pierre Gasly, started P5 finished P8: “I’mvery pleased with the outcome of today’s race, even if we dropped back from ourgrid position. It was always going to be a tough task to keep behind some ofthe faster cars like Max [Verstappen] and Charles [Leclerc] but to be fightingwith the Ferrari and Mercedes right to the end of the race is definitelyencouraging. We had to fuel save quite a bit in the second half of the race sothe fact we were so close to that top six is a step in the right direction.After two challenging races for the team, it was important for us to scoredouble points so credit to everyone for this result here in Miami. We’llanalyse everything, see where we can improve and arrive in Imola ready to keepbattling and closing the gap to our rivals ahead.”

Otmar Szafnauer, TeamPrincipal: “We can take some satisfactionfrom our weekend performance here in Miami, culminating with a double pointsfinish after two fine race drives from Pierre and Esteban. Our race pace lookedstrong, we managed the tyres well to fight with cars around us and we come awayfrom here with points on the board. It’s clear we have gained on some rivalteams from last season with Pierre close to holding off the Ferrari andMercedes at the end and Esteban going long on his first stint very much on thepace of some of the leading cars. That said, today’s race has also highlightedthe areas where we must make immediate improvements. It’s continuous gains wemust find and with some further upgrades in the pipeline for Imola and thefollowing races, we can look forward to taking that fight to our immediatecompetitors. It’s been a busy two weeks for the team and we look forward toreturning to Viry and Enstone where will analyse the past two races beforeturning our attention to the triple header.”