Alpine's Dutch Grand Prix was a mixed bag, with Pierre Gasly hailing an “amazing race” and securing valuable points while Esteban Ocon struggled to make progress all throughout his Zandvoort weekend.
The team’s low key start on Friday led to Alpine reserve Jack Doohan to spend his night in the simulator back at Enstone to help refine the car’s set-up.
The Aussie’s efforts and hard work paid off, as Gasly managed to qualify in the top 10 on Saturday and then finish ninth on race day, just ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, after a spirited drive and some handy race management.
“I’m extremely happy, I must say,” Gasly admitted afterwards. “We definitely were not that optimistic yesterday.
“What a race, to be fair. Honestly, it was amazing. I had a great start, managed to go around the outside of Lance [Stroll] and Fernando [Alonso] in Turn 1, which I think was extremely important for our race.”
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Gasly's strong start set the tone for a race filled with strategic battles and defensive driving. He managed his tyres very effectively and fended off a charging Alonso, who kept the pressure on throughout.
“I managed to control the race from there on, managed the tyre and Fernando behind, who was putting quite a lot of pressure on all the way through,” he added.
“I had a couple of great battles with Lewis and Carlos as well, so it was fun. I’m very pleased we managed to get on top of that midfield.”
While Gasly had reasons to celebrate, Ocon’s weekend was less successful. The future Haas charger struggled from the outset, exiting qualifying in Q1 and describing the handling of his A524 as “a disaster”, feeling like he was “going to crash every corner.”
While he gained a spot on Sunday’s grid thanks to Alex Albon’s exclusion from qualifying, Ocon ultimately finished 15th, the same position in which he had started, having found himself engulfed in a DRS train for much of the 72-lap race.
“It was a difficult weekend, unfortunately,” he said. “I think we did the maximum we could on our side today, but the positive on the other side is that Pierre and the team had good pace, which is good information for us.
“Well done to the team and himself for scoring some points.”
Looking ahead to this week’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Ocon remained focused on turning things around.
“It’s going to be important to understand that ahead of next weekend, see where we struggled and hopefully turn things around for Monza.
“After that race there are some more clues, more information on where we think we can be working, we can be having a look. We just need to put the fingers on things and act to fix that for the next race.”
Despite Gasly's positive performance, Alpine still trails Haas in the battle for seventh in the Constructors' Championship. However, the team has increased their lead over Williams, who failed to score in Zandvoort.
