Pressiteade
The result leaves Alpine F1 Team infifth place in the constructors’ standings on 106 points and ahead of Alpha Tauri by virtue ofthe team’s one race win in Hungary. Finishing inside the points wasalways the team’s target and it was nearly made impossible after a chaotic first lap that saw numerousincidents take place. Esteban was clipped on both sides of his A521 after Turn 1 and Fernando hadto take drastic action on his steering wheel to avoid stationary cars into Turn 2.
Both drivers remained unscathedafter the opening bouts, and following a brief Safety Car interlude, Fernando found himself twelfth,where he started, with Esteban two places down in fourteenth. After the restart, Esteban’simpressive first lap progress was cruelly hindered after he and Nicholas Latifi made light contact during anovertaking move that consequently demoted him to sixteenth.
A sequence of overtaking moves bythe Alpine duo followed, with Fernando first overtaking Nikita Mazepin on the main straight andthen George Russell a few laps later into Turn 4 moving him into tenth. Esteban followed suit andovertook both Latifi and Mazepin to take thirteenth. Esteban was one of the first tostop and his crew fitted fresh Hards on lap 14 to cover Lance Stroll’s early pit-stop in the Aston Martin.Fernando followed the leading pack with strong pace and stayed out until lap 39 when he fittedfresh Hard tyres.
The Spaniard re-joined in tenth andwas soon promoted to ninth when Lando Norris pitted. Despite some pressure from the McLarenbehind, Fernando held firm in ninth and delivered two vital points for the team. Esteban found himselfunable to recover the ground lost by starting towards the rear of the field and finished inthirteenth.
Esteban Ocon, started P19, finishedP13: “It was always going to be adifficult race starting from the back of the grid with the engine penalty, so we can be pleased to make up sixpositions today. I’m happy with my race and how we fought hard, even if we didn’t scorepoints as a reward. The start was tough, and we were quite fortunate to get away without too much damageafter the contact at Turn 1 with two cars. I tried to back out of it but there wasn’t much to bedone there. After that, we had some good battles to work our way up through the field, which wasfun. As a team, it’s good that Fernando scored points today as it’s important for the championship andour focus moves forward to next week where we both aim to be in the points.”
Fernando Alonso, started P12,finished P9: “I am happy with a well-executedrace for us today. Ninth and in the points after a difficult day yesterday is ultimately a goodresult. I was not proud of my job yesterday, but I am prouder today. It was quite a messy start and I hadto dodge a few cars in the first few corners. It was very close, but we did quite well to avoid anydamage and then I gained some positions after the Safety Car. It’s good to see the car can fight forpoints finishes consistently despite starting lower down the grid. We did lose out a little to AlphaTauri today in the battle for fifth, but hopefully the points we scored today will help the team for theend of the season.”
Laurent Rossi, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Alpine Cars: “After a compromised qualifying yesterday, to be back in the points today showsthe fighting spirit of this team. It was important for us to return to the top ten today after thefrustration in Austin last time out. It was not an easy race – far from it – with Fernando starting in themiddle of the pack and Esteban at the back of the grid with the engine penalty. For Fernando, he was alittle unfortunate at the start as he had to avoid Bottas’s spin but from there, he drove a very smoothand sensible race to work his way into the points. Esteban too had a tricky start and wassandwiched between two cars at Turn 1, which he did well to avoid. Like Fernando, he showed strong racepace and dug in to finish in thirteenth. Of course, scoring two points with one car is not our aimbut after yesterday’s qualifying, it’s a result we can be pleased with. It also gives us additionalmotivation ready for next weekend in Brazil where we return to more conventional conditions. Thefight with Alpha Tauri for fifth is now level and we must continue our hard work and commitment tostay on top in the battle."
