Pressiteade
Howdoes the team reflect on Silverstone?
Whileit’s good we scored double points in Silverstone – and very important pointsfor the championship - our ambitions remain higher than finishing seventh andninth. That said, as a team, we contributed to the success of the first SprintQualifying in Formula 1, thanks to a brave tyre choice and great drives fromFernando and Esteban, which allowed us to recover from a somewhat disappointingqualifying performance on Friday - and to put on a good show for the fans inattendance.
Howwould you describe Fernando and Esteban’s performances last weekend?
Ithink Fernando has now silenced for good whoever doubted his return would be asuccess. His speed is still there, and his race-craft is second to none, as wesaw once again in both races last Saturday and Sunday. He will no doubtcontinue pushing himself and the team as the season goes on. After twodifficult weekends, it was great to see Esteban in good form and a solidweekend allowed him to return to the points. He can now build on this goodperformance and retrieve his superb early season form.
Isthe team looking forward to racing in Hungary?
Ona personal level, I always enjoy the trip to Budapest. It’s a beautiful cityand one of my favourite destinations of the season, and I think most of theteam will agree with me! The Hungaroring is a tight and twisty track andnotoriously difficult to overtake on. That means qualifying will be importantand we will need to realise the potential of the car on Saturday to putourselves in a place where we can fight for the higher points-scoring positionsin the race.
It’sbeen an intense season so far, how is the team approaching the final racebefore the summer break?
It’sthe stage of the year when Grand Prix fatigue is kicking in after quite a fewraces already. It’s been a big push from the start of the season with bothEnstone and Viry working hard to develop the car. The focus has now switchedentirely to 2022 at both factories, meaning there are fewer new parts coming tothe track, but the second half of the calendar is a gruelling schedule andeveryone in the team looks forward to the two-week break to recharge. But,before we can relax, we are aiming for another strong showing and a doublepoints finish in Hungary.
Hungryfor Hungary
EstebanOcon made a return to the points in Silverstone to end a four-race point-lessstreak. Now, he is looking ahead to racing at the Hungaroring, one of hisfavourite circuits on the Formula 1 calendar. The Frenchman is targeting morepoints before the summer break.
What’sthe feeling heading to Hungary?
TheHungaroring is one of my favourite tracks on the Formula 1 calendar. It’s agreat place to drive a Formula 1 car as it has a nice flow and rhythm to it:it’s all about maximising corners and piecing everything together. I’m feelinghappy going to Hungary after a promising weekend in Silverstone where the carfelt much better than it had in previous rounds. The team and I have continuedto work hard in our preparation on the simulator to be ready for Hungary. It’sthe final round before the summer break, and the aim is to score more points toend the first part of the season on a positive trend.
What’syour record like there?
Ihave some good memories from the Hungaroring. I won two from three races therein 2014 in Formula 3 with three pole positions. In GP3, I was on the podiumtwice, so it’s definitely a circuit I feel positive about. In Formula 1, theresults haven’t reflected my confidence at the track, so that’s a record I wantto improve. This year, we will target a solid Friday’s work ready to attack therest of the weekend.
Howchallenging is a lap of the Hungaroring?
Thecircuit is fast with a lot of interesting corner combinations. It’s a fun lapwhen you get it right. Sector 1 has the long straight with an overtakingopportunity into Turn 1 and then again at Turn 2 where it’s possible toovertake. Turn 4 is a very satisfying corner as it’s so fast and blind on theentry. The rest of the lap is relatively fast and quite twisty, except the chicane,with the final sector quite tight with the two hairpins. The tyres tend tooverheat in the final sector so that’s something we have to keep an eye on.
Howimportant was it to be in the points in Silverstone last time out?
Iwas pleased to return to the points in Silverstone after a difficult run ofraces. It was important that we bounced back and our performance, in general,was good. I think the Sprint format worked in our favour on this occasion as wetook a gamble by starting on Softs and it meant we were better placed on the Sundaygrid. I was a little unfortunate at the start but other than that, our pace wascompetitive, we have identified further areas to work on and that means we’refeeling ready to go for it this weekend in Hungary. I’m looking forward to it!
Birthdayboy
FernandoAlonso heads to Budapest for the final Grand Prix before Formula 1’s summerbreak, having mesmerised the paddock with his performances in the British GrandPrix. The Spaniard now returns to the place of his first ever win inFormula 1 as he aims to celebrate his birthday weekend with another good resultat the Hungaroring.
Youmade it five points scoring finishes in a row at the British Grand Prix, howwas the weekend for you?
Itwill be interesting to see what the fans thought of the new format as, at theend of the day, it was designed for them, but I did like that there was actionon all three of the days. I did well in Sprint Qualifying and made the most ofmy start, overtaking quite a few cars around the first few corners. Then therace on Sunday was tough and felt very long. We executed a very good race andstrategy, scoring some more points for the team. It was nice seeing the fans inthe grandstands and it really added to the occasion. The result means I have tocontinue doing a track walk in Budapest, which will probably be a hot one!
You’rereturning to the track where you took your maiden Formula 1 victory in 2003.What are your thoughts heading into the weekend?
I’mlooking forward to it. Obviously, it’s a circuit where there isn’t much time tobreathe with lots of tight corners. It feels like a big go-kart circuit. We alllove driving there because I think the driver has a quite a bit more input thansome circuits. I’ve had some good results in Hungary, most notably in 2003 whenI took my first ever Formula 1 win. I’ve also scored a few podiums too and thepole position in 2009 was good. I feel like the team is improving all the time,especially after the performance at Silverstone where both cars finished in thepoints, so we’re hopeful of another good weekend.
It'syour birthday on Thursday, what will you be doing to celebrate it?
Iam looking forward to the birthday celebrations. I think the team have a fewthings planned too. It’s quite nice to be celebrating a birthday at a Formula 1weekend so I can’t complain. We will be sure to have some cake and celebrate alittle bit, but we have an important weekend ahead, so I’ll be fully focused onracing. It’s our last race before the summer shutdown and I am looking tocontinue our good form in Budapest.
AlpineAcademy
Martins and Collet set sights on Hungaryas Formula 3 nears halfway point
Alpine Academy pair VictorMartins and Caio Collet are in action this weekend as the FIA Formula 3Championship races on the Formula 1 support programme for round four of theseason.
It’s been a solid openingpart of the year for both Victor and Caio, who are rookies in this year’schampionship. Victor is fifth in the series on 66 points with Caio eighth on 41points. It was a frustrating round in Austria last time out for the duo aftershowing promising speed.
Caio had pole position snatchedaway for a track limits infringement and was given a 10-second penalty in Race1 for a similar offence meaning he was demoted to seventeenth place afterfinishing sixth. Victor finished fourth on the road but a penalty for himpushed him back a place. Further misfortune followed in Race 2 with Caio outsidethe points in seventeenth. Victor was second with two laps to go, chasing firstplace, but a high-pressure fuel pump failure meant he had to retire.
For Race 3, starting P4, Caiostalled on the line falling to P30 by Turn 1. He overtook 19 cars to finish inseventh place at the chequered flag. Victor was running in sixth place when hewas taken out by Arthur Leclerc at Turn 4, forcing him to retire.
Victor Martins: “Budapestis our next weekend, and that means we are reaching the halfway point of theseason. I’m pretty pleased about our performance on track since the first racethis year and I believe we are getting stronger weekend by weekend. I’ve hadsome good memories at the track in Hungary, and I love the flow of the circuit.So, I’m really looking forward to racing there and I’m going to approach theweekend like I always do: enjoy it, work hard, analyse the data and deliver theresults. I’m confident that things will go our way and that we will be able toscore big points by the end of the weekend!”
Caio Collet: “I’mreally looking forward to Budapest. It’s a track that I’ve been to in 2019 andit’s a track that I really like so I am really looking forward to it. I thinkwe had the pace in Austria, but we only came out with a few points, so inBudapest I’m targeting a clean weekend, get points in every race, and fight forpole on Friday like we did in Austria. I want to battle for podiums and wins inthe races on Saturday and Sunday. I’m really looking forward to it and, as ateam, I think we’ve really put a lot of work in the past few weeks. I’m excitedto get back in the car this weekend.”
Tyres:
Hard,C2 (White)
Esteban – 2
Fernando - 2
Medium,C3 (Yellow)
Esteban – 3
Fernando - 3
Soft,C4 (Red)
Esteban– 8
Fernando– 8
Esteban Ocon
Starts - 3
Points – 2
Average Points – 0.66
Fastest Qualifying – 1:15.742 (2020)
Fastest Lap – 1:20.261 (2020)
Best Finish – 9th (2017)
Best Grid Position – 11th (2017)
Fernando Alonso
Starts - 17
Points – 125
Average Points – 7.35
Fastest Qualifying – 1:17.549(2017)
Fastest Lap – 1:20.182(2017)
Best Finish – 1st(2003)
Best Grid Position – 1st(2003, 2009)
Renault-powered cars in Hungary
Starts - 136
Wins - 8
Podiums - 29
Pole Positions - 10
Fastest Laps - 12
Total points - 490
Last season’s team result
Ricciardo
Grid – 11th
Race – 8th
Ocon
Grid – 14th
Race – 14th
