Guillaume Dezoteux feels the Spanish Grand Prix weekend was a ‘missed opportuntity’ for Scuderia AlphaTauri, with the Faenza-based team leaving the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya without a point.
Yuki Tsunoda looked as though he was going to double his points haul as he ran ninth for much of the second half of the race, only for the Japanese driver to earn himself a penalty for forcing Zhou Guanyu off track at turn one that relegated him to twelfth at the chequered flag.
Nyck de Vries finished fourteenth having found himself stuck in a train of cars for much of the afternoon, with his race seemingly coming alive when in free air in the final stint that saw him close the gap rapidly to Oscar Piastri ahead of him.
Dezoteux, the Head of Vehicle Performance at AlphaTauri, felt the team had a strong enough package to score points in Spain, the team having scored only two points in the opening seven races.
“Until the very last moments on the grid, we monitored the weather closely as it was raining a few kilometres away,” said Dezoteux. “Surprisingly, it never arrived and we ended with a two-stop race, close to our predictions.
“Yuki drove fantastically. He was able to stay with Ocon for most of the race, which is encouraging regarding our race pace. Unfortunately, while defending Zhou in Turn one, he didn’t leave enough space at the apex and received a five-second penalty for this, ending up P12.
“Nyck had a strong start, although he lost a couple of positions in the opening laps and ended up in a train of cars for most of the first and second stints. Nyck’s third stint on the medium tyre looked strong and he was able to close on Piastri towards the end of the race finishing P14.
“This weekend feels a bit like a missed opportunity, as we believe we had a package strong enough for points and being closer to the midfield in qualifying. Nevertheless, we have learned a lot about our car in a wide range of conditions, and this will give us valuable data for the developments coming in the future.”
