Fernando takes home one-point after measured drive in Austria

Fernando had to dig deep to claim tenth place,passing Williams’ George Russell four laps from the end after a battling duelbetween the pair.

On a bold one-stop, Medium to Hard strategy,Fernando was able to make the plan stick as he continued his points streak,which now spans to four consecutive races.

Esteban’s afternoon ended at Turn 3 on the openinglap of the 71-lap race as he was caught up in an incident between MickSchumacher and Antonio Giovinazzi. The Frenchman was stuck in the middle of thepair and suffered front right suspension damage, which forced his retirement.

Esteban Ocon, started P17, DNF:

“It was unfortunate for our race to end earlytoday. There wasn’t much I could have done as I was sandwiched between Mick[Schumacher] and Antonio [Giovinazzi] at Turn 3 in a racing incident. It’s oneof those things and a consequence of starting the race at the back. There’salways a chance for fights and contact and it’s easier to be caught up introuble there. The team and I can’t seem to catch a break at the moment. We’llreset, restart from zero and prepare for Silverstone. The only way we can go isforwards.”

FernandoAlonso, started P14, finished P10:

“Itwas difficult to score points today and we knew this starting from so far back.We are happy with the point, although we know we deserved more this weekend,but it’s better than nothing. It was a tense and a good battle with George[Russell] on-track this afternoon and in the end, we had better tyres andmanaged to accomplish the overtake. On a positive, we saw some goodimprovements from the team this weekend and the car felt good across all threedays here. I feel more confident now going into Silverstone for the next racewith the car and the tyres and I’m enjoying being more competitive.”

MarcinBudkowski, Executive Director:

“Considering thecircumstances, finishing in tenth place is a decent result as it was alwaysgoing be a challenge to score points from fourteenth and seventeenth onthe grid. Esteban got sandwiched at Turn 3 on the first lap and was forcedto retire with a broken suspension. We executed the one-stop strategy reallywell with a perfectly timed pit-stop and two good stints from Fernando. Hispace was strong and it’s frustrating not to be able to capitalise on that todaydue to the outcome of yesterday’s qualifying. We’re looking forward to racingin Silverstone, our second home race, and returning to where we should be withboth cars.”