Fernando Alonso did a great job at the Italian Grand Prix to finish eighth place, after what had been a difficult weekend for the Alpine F1 Team at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. Team-mate Esteban Ocon had an eventful race and finished tenth.
It was a very lonely, uneventful race for the experienced Spaniard. The team executed an excellent strategy with the double world champion, putting the Spaniard in an impressive eighth place. Alonso spent the entire race unchallenged, the Alpine driver didn’t quite have the pace to overtake Lance Stroll ahead but had the pace to finish in a comfortable eighth.
Alonso believes the team maximised their potential and is hoping they can find more pace at the Russian Grand Prix.
“I think we maximised our potential today considering it was an uncompetitive weekend for us after qualifying thirteenth and fourteenth on Friday. It was quite a lonely race for me, but both cars finished in the points so it’s a good result for the team. I think the result shows we executed a good race, strategy and pit-stops. Now Monza is out of the way, hopefully we can find our competitiveness again for the next race and fight for more points in the championship.”
“One point doesn’t reflect the team’s work” – Esteban Ocon
Ocon had a very eventful race, the Frenchman made a strong start and gained a couple of places on the opening lap but then lost time after having to allow Nicholas Latifi back past. The stewards deemed the move was made illegally.
Ocon was not a fan of the stewards and their decision making at the Italian Grand Prix, the Frenchman was awarded a five-second penalty several laps later after colliding with Sebastian Vettel. Ocon cut across the front of Vettel whilst braking for turn four, in what was probably a fair decision by the stewards.
Ocon believes tenth place doesn’t reflect the team’s hard-work over the weekend and that more points were definitely on the cards.
“It was a busy race for us today and, while scoring a point is always good, I feel we were very unfortunate not to score more. I had a good start, made a couple of places, and then I had to give a position back to Nicholas [Latifi], which cost us time. Then, I was having a good battle with Sebastian [Vettel], we touched a bit at Turn 4 without having any damage and received a five-second penalty for the manoeuvre.
“With the timing of the Safety Car, we had to serve it at the pit-stop and that really cost us as it looked like we could have gained a big advantage from that. I disagree with the decisions on both incidents, but that’s how it goes sometimes. The one point doesn’t reflect the team’s work this weekend as there was potential for more.”
