Alpine F1 Team Executive Director Marcin Budkowski didn’t get the result he was hoping for at the Spanish Grand Prix after a bright start to the weekend in qualifying.
Esteban Ocon qualified in fifth, his highest starting position so far this year, with Fernando Alonso also following him into Q3 and qualifying tenth.
Unfortunately, both Ocon and Alonso didn’t have the race pace or the tyres come race day and crossed the finish line in ninth and seventeenth respectively.
The race was predicted to be a one-stopper across the board but the track was a whole lot more demanding than some people expected and were forced to pit twice. Ocon stayed out and had just one stop all race but Alonso saw his tyres drop off rapidly come the end of the race and had to pit for softs on Lap 61.
Budkowski, despite the team gaining valuable points, was left wanting more from the weekend, “After a very positive qualifying, this race result clearly was not what we were hoping for. We lost some positions at the start, two for Esteban and one for Fernando. We were pretty committed to a one-stop strategy and we tried to make it work.” he said.
“However, it was quite tough to get to the end on the second set of tyres, with Esteban able to salvage two points after a brave last couple of laps. Fernando ran out of tyres at the end, leaving him out of the points. We didn’t have the pace to fight with Ferrari or McLaren in the race today, so that gives us an area to focus on and find further improvements.
“Nevertheless, we’ve scored two points on the teams behind us in the Constructors’ Championship. Overall, though, we were hoping for more from this race.”
