Alpine F1
Fernando Alonso
“We started ninth and finished eighth and all in all we executed the race how we wanted, so I am happy with the result today. We weren’t expecting the tyres to degrade like they did and our Medium tyres didn’t last very long at the beginning of the race. I was a little bit worried but when we switched to the Hards we showed strong pace and we carried this through to the end and it looked like we might be able to overtake Gasly and Ricciardo ahead in the last few laps. We’ve had similar performances at a few circuits now on both Saturday and Sunday, so I think we can be a bit more relaxed that this is our real position and not the one we showed in Monaco.”
Esteban Ocon
“It was not the race we were hoping for today and we’ve had a disappointing weekend overall. Today it felt we were lacking something, and we have things to review. The pace wasn’t there on either tyre, they were degrading quite quickly, and it meant we weren’t able to push towards the points. We’ll learn from this weekend and move forward. The next race is next week, and we aim to come back strongly."
Marcin Budkowski, executive director
“It was a race dominated by tyre management and graining and it was a very different story for both of our cars. We tried a reverse strategy with Esteban, and he had heavy graining on his first stint. By the time he pitted, his race was already compromised. Fernando had a good start and he was in the top ten fight for the whole race. He had some front graining too, but, managed that well on the Hards on his second stint and he was able put some pressure on Gasly and Ricciardo in the close battle for sixth place. It’s good to be racing again with our rivals on-track after two difficult races, even if we feel we could have got more points out of this weekend. We’re looking forward to more exciting battles as soon as next weekend.”
