The Alpine F1 Team scored the first point of the season as Esteban Ocon battled to tenth position at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Italy. But a post-race penalty to Kimi Räikkönen, promoted both Alpine drivers into point scoring positions.
The Enstone-based team had a disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix where it failed to score any points. In a season with a very closely fought midfield battle, the team has its work cut out for it. The team brought significant updates and improved on its performance at this race.
A harsh post-race penalty for a rival driver helped the team score a double points finish. The Alpine team as a result is now seventh in the constructors’ championship.
Marcin Budkowski, the Executive Director of the team, had mixed feeling after the race and said: “We scored our first point of the season today and we had to work hard for it. Both cars had poor starts in wet conditions and lost several positions on the first lap, which is something we need to understand. In the dry, our pace was pretty decent with both drivers together on the track and coming back towards the points positions.
“Esteban got stuck behind Räikkönen for the final part of the race and couldn’t make the move, underlining how difficult it is to overtake here. We leave Imola with bittersweet feelings; pleased to have our first point of the season, but it was a race that didn’t go as it could have for us. We move onto the next race hungry for more.”
The team is now bringing up the rear in the midfield team battle. It has to make big strides in the development race to battle against the faster rivals.
