Pressiteade
Therace began dry and ended in the wet as rain fell just a handful of laps fromthe end, bringing a difficult decision on whether to gamble on dry tyres to thechequered flag or opt for Intermediates. Eventually, both drivers went forIntermediates with Fernando able to hold onto sixth place and add a valuableeight points to the Championship.
Bothdrivers made strong starts off the line with Fernando – starting on Hards -late on the brakes into Turn 2 in the fight for the top four, and Esteban – onMediums - able to progress to eighth place. Fernando settled into eighth andEsteban ninth in the early running. Esteban pitted on lap 15 for new Hards tocover others around him while Fernando remained out and ran long on Hards,occupying second place for seven laps.
Afterhis pit-stop for Mediums on lap 36, Fernando soon chased the top five, passingMax Verstappen into Turn 2 on lap 37. With the threat of rain increasing,Fernando continued his charge towards the podium positions, which he brieflyheld after passing Sergio Perez on lap 48. But, as the rain fell, he andEsteban pitted for Intermediates three laps from the end. The Spaniard was ableto battle back to sixth with Esteban outside the points in fourteenth.
EstebanOcon, started P9, finished P14:
“Itwas not a good race for us today and, in general, we haven’t had the pace allweekend. It’s disappointing, of course, not to score points, especially whenthere was an opportunity at the end with the wet conditions. We didn’t make theright decision at the end and it was a risk to stay out on track on dry tyres.It’s one of those days we have to forget, and we’ll move on, analyse whathappened, and come back stronger for the next race.”
FernandoAlonso, started P6, finished P6:
“Wefinished sixth, but I think third place is more of a true reflection of ourfinishing position today. It all came down to luck in the end with the raincoming so late on. It was like a flip of a coin. Some cars stopped one lapearlier and I was in third position when it really started to rain. It wasimpossible to predict. Nevertheless, sixth is a good result for us and wedeserved it. We looked competitive throughout the race, so there are lots ofpositives to take away.”
MarcinBudkowski, Executive Director:“Abittersweet feeling today; we took home eight points, but we missed anopportunity to finish on the podium. We decided to start the cars ondifferent strategies, with Fernando starting on Hard tyres with the objectiveof stopping later in the race and potentially benefit from safety cars or anyrain coming. Both drivers had a good first stint, with Esteban stopping earlieron the Mediums. Unfortunately, he ran out of grip in the later stages ofthe race on the Hard tyres. Fernando managed his tyres well and had very goodpace right until the rain started to fall. At this stage, the challenge was topredict whether it would get heavier or go away, which is a bit of a lottery.Fernando was making positions on the dry tyres in the light rain and we decidedto leave him out; had the rain intensity reduced we would have likely finishedP2, but unfortunately it went the other way and we pitted him a lap toolate. It was a similar story with Esteban: as he was outside of the points,we had to take a gamble: pit early for Intermediates or leave him out on thedry tyres, we opted for the latter and did not luck in. We're leavingSochi with eight points while our closest rivals didn’t score any, sooverall a good result for the championship even if we feel we missed outon a better result today.”
