Austrian Grand Prix
Esteban started from P10 on New Mediums, finished P12: Pit Stops on Lap 19 for New Hards, Lap 43 for New Mediums. Fastest Lap: 1min 09.649secs.
Pierre started from P13 on New Mediums, finished P10: Pit Stops on Lap 20 for New Hards, Lap 42 for New Mediums. Fastest Lap: 1min 09.609secs.
Esteban Ocon: “Today was a tough race and we ended outside of the points. We had a very strong start, just what we needed, as we managed to pass Nico [Hülkenberg] on the opening lap. He did get by a few laps later but we stayed right with him during the first stint and from there it was going to be a race of strategy. We were not quick enough to fight for position and we fell back into traffic after our pit-stops. We had better pace earlier in the weekend so, of course, we will review everything in detail to improve next time. We finish off the triple header in Silverstone next weekend so hopefully it will be a strong Sunday showing for us at a legendary circuit.”
Pierre Gasly: “That’s now four points-scoring finishes in a row and my 400th career point in Formula 1. In that sense, it’s been a satisfying day but a race I am sure we will review in detail in order to improve on a few things. We were always in the fight for points. I did not have a great start and after that, we did our best to recover. I think the two Haas cars were slightly quicker than us and, at the end, I was in a close one with Daniel [Ricciardo] but it was tough as it was just a DRS train. We will settle for a point, four in a row now, which does show we are building consistency across different circuits. We continue to be more confident in our package and it’s good for motivation to keep pushing and keep adding performance to the car. We will take it race by race, focus on ourselves and I’m very happy with the current trajectory. Next one, Silverstone!”
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: “We managed to score one point today after a hard fought Austrian Grand Prix. While it means we continue our points-scoring run, we certainly leave Spielberg with plenty of things to review in order to improve for next time. We probably did not maximise our performance level and that meant our direct rivals capitalised and scored valuable points. We immediately have Silverstone to focus on next weekend and we look forward to finishing this triple header at Enstone’s home race.”
Alpine Formula One
