Esteban Ocon says the BWT Alpine F1 Team are ‘fully focused’ on executing a good Qualifying session at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Saturday, particularly with a number of the regular front runners carrying penalties in the weekend.
Both Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers – Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez – as well as Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. all will drop down the order after taking new engine and/or gearbox components for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
Ocon, who finished sixth fastest in the opening session on Friday and eighth in the second, feels the penalties can open up opportunities for teams such as Alpine, and it will be important for them to get the set-up spot on for the Qualifying hour on Saturday.
“It’s always a pleasure to drive in Italy and at Monza,” said Ocon, who is sporting a helmet paying tribute to Michael Schumacher this weekend. “It was a good Friday overall for us with two productive sessions and both cars in the top ten.
“We’ll be focusing on ourselves and how we can keep extracting further performance ahead of tomorrow. We’ll be looking at our data and also analysing possible scenarios for the race with so many penalties and different cars trying different things today.
“We are fully focused on tomorrow and to have a good Qualifying.”
“It was another good Friday for us today in Monza” – Fernando Alonso
Team-mate Fernando Alonso ended just behind Ocon in both sessions, placing seventh in the first session and ninth in the second, and the Spaniard felt they acquired a lot of useful data that would benefit them for the rest of the weekend.
Alonso admitted the ‘porpoising’ appears to be worse this weekend then in previous races, but despite this, he was happy to have a trouble-free day in front of the Tifosi, who used to support and cheer him on during his time with Ferrari.
“It was another good Friday for us today in Monza,” said Alonso. “We tested everything we wanted to test, and we have taken a lot of useful data regarding the tyres for this weekend.
“The ‘porpoising’ of the car seems increased here than it has in previous weekends, but other than that, it’s been a trouble free and well executed Friday Practice for the team.”
