Strong double points for Esteban and Fernando as BWT Alpine F1 Team score season best result

Startingfrom second place on the grid – his best qualifying effort in ten years –Fernando nursed a suspected air leak on his car to claim two points withEsteban playing the team game in guiding his team-mate across the line bycompensating for the Spaniard’s straight line speed deficit and allowing himDRS in the closing stages.

Withten points scored today, the team remains in fifth place in the Constructors’Championship, eight points behind McLaren.

Fernandoenjoyed a clean start off the line to hold his second-place grid slot on theopening laps with Esteban able to progress a position to sixth. Fernandoremained on-track after the first of two Virtual Safety Car (VSC) interventionson lap nine, with the second on lap 19 unfortunately timed as Fernando passedthe pit entry and missed an opportunity to stop. Esteban was able to benefitfrom the second VSC, pitting for Hard tyres.

Fernandoeventually swapped rubber on lap 28 to slot into seventh before a Safety Car onlap 49 allowed the team to double stop both cars onto Mediums for an 18-lapSprint to the chequered flag. Fernando was lacking pace as a result of asuspected air leak with Esteban tactically giving him DRS to navigate his wayto the end. With Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc through, Esteban and Fernando wereable to defend from Valtteri Bottas to claim sixth and seventh at the end ofthe 70-lap race, before Fernando’s penalty after the flag, which added fiveseconds to his time.

Esteban Ocon, started P7, finished P6:

“I’m very happy with the result today to score eightpoints. The team did a great job with the car and the strategy and it was allwell managed overall. We leave Canada with some good points for the team and abig step up in the Constructors’ Championship. I’m glad I was able to helpFernando at the end there with DRS to keep Valtteri [Bottas] behind. There isstill a lot to discuss and learn with regards to how the weekend unfolded, butthe important thing is to keep this momentum going and keep delivering goodperformances in the next races.”

Fernando Alonso, started P2, finished P9:

“I think this weekend we deserved better than ninth position,but it’s still good for both cars to score points in the end. We ultimatelylost a big opportunity to fight for a potential podium as I felt like I had thepace to do so. We were hit with a badly timed VSC just before our firststop. I was on the main straight when it was deployed, and then missed apit-stop opportunity before it ended. We then had an engine problem from lap20, which we were trying to manage. We didn’t retire the car and used the DRSto defend, as we were losing a lot of time on the straights. It’s disappointingespecially after yesterday’s performance, but we’ll head to Silverstone, try toget on top of our reliability issues and score more points.”

Otmar Szafnauer, TeamPrincipal: “The teamleaves Canada feeling proud after scoring good points in today’s race withEsteban sixth and Fernando ninth after a post-race penalty. Even after such astrong Saturday, we entered the race today with a realistic mindset and we knewscoring multiple points with both cars and swinging the momentum in thechampionship was the absolute goal. Fernando was certainly very unfortunatewith the deployment timing of both VSCs early in the race and he also had asmall issue on his car, which held him back from making further progress.Esteban benefitted from a bright start to the race and executed his plan wellto progress to sixth at the end, with his clever, team-minded driving to allowFernando DRS in the closing stages, the key to cementing our final positions.We’ve demonstrated our ability this weekend and we look forward to the nextstring of car updates for the next round with the objective of fighting furtherup the grid.”