After claiming his third points finish of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Pierre Gasly has spoken on his delight to be contending with the likes of Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team at the Miami Grand Prix.
Even after securing his highest qualifying position for the BWT Alpine F1 Team, Gasly admitted he knew it would be a near impossible task to hold off both Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, after both drivers found themselves out of position to start the grand prix.
By lap fifteen both Verstappen and Leclerc were able to overtake the Alpine driver, who was then directly called into the pits to change over to the hard tyre for his one and only pit-stop of the race.
Gasly would work his way back up to sixth place by lap forty and looked set to claim his first finish inside the top six since last season’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but with just five laps remaining the French driver would endure a lap to forget.
Leclerc would take advantage of a lockup from Gasly heading into turn one and then just moments later Lewis Hamilton would also work his way past the Frenchman to bump Gasly down to eighth place.
Despite having to settle for an eighth place finish when a potential top six finish had looked to be on the cards, Gasly opted to look at the positives in how the A523 was able to compete with both the W14 and SF23 until the latter stages of the race.
“I’m very pleased with the outcome of today’s race, even if we dropped back from our grid position. It was always going to be a tough task to keep behind some of the faster cars like Max [Verstappen] and Charles [Leclerc] but to be fighting with the Ferrari and Mercedes right to the end of the race is definitely encouraging.“
Eighth place at the Miami Grand Prix marks Gasly’s best result in his short time with the Enstone-based team and now the one-time Grand Prix winner is keen to push on and make a success of his first season with the Alpine team.
“We had to fuel save quite a bit in the second half of the race so the fact we were so close to that top six is a step in the right direction. After two challenging races for the team, it was important for us to score double points so credit to everyone for this result here in Miami. We’ll analyse everything, see where we can improve and arrive in Imola ready to keep battling and closing the gap to our rivals ahead.“
Esteban Ocon: “Our pace was strong so that is encouraging going forward”
Esteban Ocon helped round off a second double points finish of the season for Alpine as his ninth place finish at the Miami International Autodrome was enough to round off a six point haul for the French constructor.
After a poor start which saw him fall back two places on the opening lap, Ocon was able to regain one of the places he lost on the opening lap by lap five as he made his way past Valtteri Bottas and into ninth place.
Ocon undertook an alternate strategy to that of his teammates, the French driver completed a thirty-nine lap opening stint on the hard tyre before changing over to a new set of mediums to take him to the end of the race.
The Frenchman would go untroubled from Kevin Magnussen in tenth place and was never able to reel in his fellow teammate a place ahead of him, ultimately leaving Ocon having to settle for a ninth place finish on the road.
Speaking on securing his second points finish of the season, Ocon echoed the same point of view as that of his teammate when speaking on his delight to be in the fight with both Ferrari and Mercedes.
“It’s good to be back in the points with both cars after a decent race for the team today. We opted for the more aggressive strategy by going long on Hard tyres in the first stint and it did not quite pay off in the end. We had some good battles with Ferrari and Mercedes with a couple of good overtakes throughout.“
Ocon will be hoping that Sunday’s double points finish is a sign of things to come for the Alpine team after their campaign has got off to a less than stellar start. The Alpine driver has placed high importance on being able to strike while the iron is hot at the upcoming European triple header starting in Imola next weekend.
“Our pace was strong so that is encouraging going forward. We are satisfied with our job today as I don’t think we could have done much more. Of course, there are things for us to review and improve but it’s a long season and I’m looking forward to the upcoming triple header in Europe where we need to string together three positive races.”
