Team Talk - Sunday at Suzuka

Alpine F1

Pierre Gasly (FRA) Alpine F1 Team A523 on the grid. 24.09.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 17, Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka, Japan, Race Day. - www.xpbimages.com, EMail: requests@xpbimages.com © Copyright: Charniaux / XPB Images
Pierre Gasly
"Firstly, we've made it back-to-back points from the double header after going from twelfth on the grid into the points. From my side, I felt it was a very positive race with strong stints on both the Medium and Hard tyres to put ourselves into points scoring contention. We seemed competitive, closely matched with Fernando [Alonso] ahead, and closing him down might have been possible. As a team, we have some things to review to see what we can do better for next time. In the end, it's a double points finish for the team and that's the most important thing."

Esteban Ocon
"First of all it is great to have both cars back in the points. I think the team did well to optimise a challenging strategy today and we performed well, in general, on track. We had a tricky start with the racing incident on lap one, which could have easily put an end to our race, but we were able to recover well, manage the tyres, have some good pit stops, and end our day with some points. It was good teamwork in an attempt to grab more points as a team and, in the end, we probably maximised what we had today. We have many things to learn and to discuss and we aim to come back stronger in Qatar in two weeks' time."

Bruno Famin, interim team principal
"It's been a positive Sunday effort from the team today with both cars in the points and it was good to put behind a slightly out-of-position Qualifying. It was an interesting race for strategy with many different plans across the field. Towards the end of the race we looked to capitalise on our tyre advantage and pace from Pierre by targeting eighth place. The opportunity was a close one and we decided to swap positions on track with a view for maximising the team result by giving Pierre the chance to chase eighth place. In the end, we ran out of laps and pace and we made the decision to swap the drivers back. Making these calls is never easy, however, all decisions are taken with the best interest of the team first and foremost. It's been a busy two weeks – points on the board and certainly encouraging signs across two different circuits and conditions – so credit to the entire team for delivering upgrades and slick execution towards these results. We all need to keep pushing for more."