The BWT Alpine F1 Team where left with mixed-emotions following the recent Australian Grand Prix, with Esteban Ocon finishing inside the points in seventh but with Fernando Alonso ending up towards the back, despite electric pace at the Albert Park Circuit.
Ocon continued his run of finishing in the points at every race so far this season, after a great seventh place finish last weekend. It really should’ve been a double-points finish for Alpine though with Alonso having incredible pace all weekend. The Spaniard who started tenth after crashing in final qualifying whilst on-track for pole, pitted deep into the race and was then unable to fight his way through the field despite being on the superior tyre to those around him.
It left Alpine CEO, Laurent Rossi, disappointed with the team’s weekend after only managing a seventh and seventeenth place finish with both drivers.
“We are generally disappointed with today’s result, however, it’s a good sign that we’re not satisfied as it underlines how far we have progressed as a team. We know that we had the speed, and the potential, for a much better result with both cars today but the race weekend just didn’t quite unfold in our direction. The track proved very difficult for overtaking, especially in comparison to the previous two races, and we knew that Saturday’s qualifying result would play a huge part in the outcome of Sunday’s race.”
Rossi knew that it would be tough for his drivers, especially Alonso to make progress. The Spaniard suffered from graining on the medium tyres whilst trying to fight through the midfield pack, largely caused by the lengthy DRS train caused by a mid-race Safety Car bunching up the field.
“With our cars starting in eighth and tenth, it was always going to be a challenge to make an advance on those places. After some early promise, the Safety Car was especially unfortunate for Fernando who was managing a quiet, but effective, reverse strategy on Hard to Medium. Overall, we’ve shown we are competitive, and we will keep building on the good base that we have, especially by bringing some upgrades to upcoming races to enable us to keep fighting higher up the grid. For that, we will work on consistency in order to get both cars into the points.”
Despite Rossi’s disappointment, he knows that everyone involved with the team will give their all to push the team forward.
“I’m confident in everyone at Enstone and Viry to continue their hard work in pushing this team deservedly forwards. We move onto the next one when we race in Europe again in Imola. Our team is very much in the mix and it is up to us now to remain highly motivated in this championship contest.”
