Pressiteade
Alpine F1 Team now heads into the finaleof the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship in a stronger fifth position inthe standings, 29 points ahead of Alpha Tauri.
Esteban and Fernando started their racesstrongly and both climbed two places into seventh and eleventh respectivelyduring the opening lap. Fernando soon joined Esteban in the top ten after hecharged past Antonio Giovinazzi into Turn 1.
Fernando was unable to hold position anddropped down to thirteenth after he fell victim to the power advantage of DRS.Just as the race was settling into a rhythm, a Safety Car was called out forMick Schumacher, who ended his race after hitting the barrier, and Fernandotook this opportunity to box for fresh Hards.
A red flag was waved shortly after whichnegated Fernando’s earlier stop, while Esteban moved into fourth with othersalso pitting for fresh tyres.
The race restarted after a short delay andEsteban managed to cut his way up to second after the two title protagonistswere busy battling it out into Turns 1 and 2. Chaos then ensued behind the topthree, as several cars tangled and immediately brought another red flag out toclear the resulting debris.
Ahead of the restart, it was announcedthat Esteban would start in first place after a dispute between Mercedes andRed Bull for the previous incident. At the restart, Esteban fought threeabreast with Hamilton and Verstappen, and battled toe to toe with thechampionship contenders, but eventually dropped to third.
Fernando spent the remainder of his racein thirteenth and couldn’t make much progression as he boxed for fresh Softs.
Esteban was looking good in third positionand was showing strong pace to keep the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo comfortablybehind. Valtteri Bottas then got past Ricciardo, and spent the final stages ofthe race chasing down Esteban ahead. Despite his best efforts and some soliddefensive driving, Bottas made his move on Esteban at the finishing line. It’sthe Frenchman’s best result since the Hungarian Grand Prix in July and addsvaluable points to the standings.
Esteban Ocon, started P9, finished P4
“I gave it my all today. The competitorinside of me is disappointed to miss out on the podium by such a shortdistance, but I’m very proud of the whole team today. What we achieved isoutstanding and to take fourth place and add 12 more points in the bag in thechampionship is what counts. We took the right decisions in the race; we dideverything we could on track and on strategy at the right moments, which put usin the best possible position to take big points. It was quite fun to start onpole position too – I’ve not done that since 2015 in GP3 – but I knew my racewas not with Lewis and Max in front. That said, the opportunity was there todayand we can leave here with our heads high and feeling very proud. We move ontoAbu Dhabi ready to finish the season on a high and take any opportunity thatmight come up.”
Fernando Alonso, started P13, finished P13
“It was a crazy race tonight. I think whenthe first red flag was waved the race was over for us. We opted to stop andwere in a very good position, and realistically we could have been fifth orsixth had it all fallen into place. They stopped the race and we were veryunlucky there. Every time there seems to be a red flag or a situation like thatwe are on the wrong side of things. I think it was a bit dangerous racing amongstall the debris today and to not have a full Safety Car. Nothing happened in theend which was good. We scored good points with Esteban today, but we need tomake sure our pace is back for Abu Dhabi and we end the season on a positive.”
Marcin Budkowski, Executive Director: "Some good points today toconsolidate fifth in the championship... but that result does hurt! What a racefrom Esteban - he drove exceptionally well and only just got beaten by a muchquicker car on the line. He had a very good start and gained two positions inthe first lap, then kept the pace up until the first race interruption. Weelected to stop Fernando during the Safety Car because we didn’t think it wouldturn into a red flag, and this compromised his race as he wasn’t in a positionto get back into the points. We didn’t stop Esteban to preserve his good trackposition, which even turned into pole position at the second restart. Hemanaged his race perfectly and really deserved a podium today. Losing it for afew metres is a bitter feeling, especially since after the race we discoveredhe had picked up some damage to his floor on lap 48, which cost him lap time,but to be disappointed with fourth shows how strong a race we had. After twovery good races for the Team, we aim to finish on a high in Abu Dhabi."
