Pressiteade
Patience,clinical driving and reliability proved decisive in today’s result with bothdrivers facing a three-stop strategy during the taxing 57-lap race.
Estebanbegan well from eleventh on the grid on new Softs pushing up into the top 10 onthe opening lap, despite tagging Mick Schumacher at Turn 6, which resulted in afive-second time penalty. Esteban served the penalty at his first pit-stop onlap 14. The Frenchman swiftly weaved his way back through the field, pittingagain on laps 30 for Hards and lap 43 under the Safety Car for Softs.
Fernando’srace was less straight forward with challenging stints on all three tyrecompounds. The Spaniard was always knocking on the door for points throughoutand, like Esteban, benefitted from the hat-trick of retirements to cars aheadin the closing stages to climb into the points.
Witheight points scored from today’s Grand Prix, the team heads to Saudi Arabianext weekend, sitting fifth in the Constructors’ Championship.
EstebanOcon, started P11, finished P7:
“I’mvery pleased with today and it’s a great start to the season with double pointssecured for the team. Our pace today was strong, there were some good overtakesand the team made the right calls on strategy. I’d like to say a specialshoutout to the pit crew as well who were excellent with so many pit-stopstoday. Other than the incident with Mick, which I hold my hands up andapologise for, I was pretty pleased with my race. We will debrief with theteam, we can take positives from today’s performance and we look ahead to nextweek. Onwards and upwards.”
FernandoAlonso, started P8, finished P9:
“I’mhappy to score two points in today’s first race of the season. It was not easyout there with the high tyre degradation, which we were all expecting goinginto the race. We defended a lot during the first stint and pushed quite hard,so perhaps this was less than ideal. We have to keep learning about these newtyres and it’ll probably be a big topic throughout the season. Overall, I thinkovertaking is easier because the tyres are all at different levels andfollowing the cars ahead is better. We go again next weekend in Saudi Arabia,where no doubt it’ll be a different set of challenges.”
LaurentRossi, CEO, Alpine:
“What a fantastic wayto start the season for the team with both Esteban and Fernando scoringdeserved points today. This is certainly a great achievement, which,ultimately, is down to the three core pillars that construct our team fromEnstone, Viry and the trackside team. This result is a credit to everyone’shard work to prepare the A522-RE22 package over the winter and, indeed, ensurewe had the means to compete for points. Thanks to everyone for their commitmentand dedication over the past couple of months and now, we undoubtedly have themeans to make our 2022 challenger even more competitive in the coming races.Esteban and Fernando drove great races today with overtaking aplenty throughoutthe field, which is especially exciting for the Formula 1 spectacle. It was along and very tough race for them with strategy playing a key part. Thepit-stop crew were also immense across all six stops during the race, so thanksto them for maintaining focus and precision when it mattered. We’ve had a tastefor how thrilling the 2022 season could shape up to be. We now look forward toSaudi Arabia next weekend where, I’m sure, the racing will be as exciting. Ouraim is to continue the hard work and pick up more points with both cars.”Kõik sellel veebilehel olevad materjalid (sealhulgas, kuid mitte ainult: tekstid, fotod, graafika, helifailid, animatsioonifailid, videofailid ja nende paigutus veebilehel) on Renault SASi ja/või selle sidusettevõtete või kolmandate isikute omand, kes on volitanud Renault SASi nende piiratud kasutamiseks, ning on kaitstud autoriõiguse ja muude intellektuaalomandi kohta kehtivate õigusnormidega. Eespool nimetatud materjalide kasutamine muudel kui toimetuslikel eesmärkidel, eelkõige turundus- või reklaamieesmärkidel, on rangelt keelatud.
