Alpine F1 managed to score a few points at the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, thanks to Esteban Ocon, but the French team inevitably has a sense of missed opportunity, on the side of Fernando Alonso.
While the Spaniard was aiming for at least 4th place, or even better in qualifying, a technical problem relegated him to 10th place on the grid. And in the race Alonso also had bad luck with the safety car.
She fell at the wrong time after an incident in the 24th round, shattering her hopes of scoring points. Fernando then went through the pit lane on lap 39 under Virtual Safety Car, with his medium tires deteriorating, and was forced to return there on lap 53.
For Laurent Rossi, CEO of Alpine, “We are generally disappointed with our result in Australia.”
“But in the end it’s a good sign to be unhappy because it shows how far we’ve come as a team. We know we had the speed and potential to get a much better result with our two cars, but the weekend failed.” in our favor.”
“It is difficult to overtake at this track – even more so compared to the first two visited this season – so we were aware that the result of Saturday’s qualifying would have a major impact on the outcome of the race. our race. When you have two single-seaters starting eighth and tenth, it’s always hard to climb the hierarchy.”
“After a promising start, the safety car penalized Fernando in particular, who managed a discreet but effective strategy well, seeing him start on hard tires and then drive on mediums.”
Rossi prefers to see the glass half full before returning to Europe in ten days, to Imola.
“Overall, we have shown that we are competitive and we will build on the good foundation we have at our disposal, which we will make some improvements for in the coming races to keep fighting at the top of the grid. †
“Therefore, we will work on our consistency to get both cars in the points. I am confident that everyone at Enstone and Viry will continue to work hard to improve this team that deserves it.”
“We are now looking forward to the next stage and our return to Europe, to Imola. Our team is really in the game and it is now up to us to maintain a very high level of motivation in view of the battle for the championship.”
