A week after finishing on the podium in Monaco, Esteban Ocon and Albin failed to challenge the leaders at the Spanish Grand Prix after the team suffered a “significant drop in pace” between the encouraging qualifying session and the race.
After the Monaco Grand Prix, which achieved double points and a podium finish, Alpine started the Spanish weekend encouragingly: they were consistently in the top ten in both free practice and qualifying, in competition with Ferrari and Mercedes. Pierre Gasly, for example, ran the fourth fastest lap in qualifying.
He did, however, receive a six-man penalty for his positions, but given his speed, he could rightly trust that he would be able to regain lost positions. However, the race was a disappointment for him and teammate Esteban Ocon.
Ocon – who was still fifth after the start – was only eighth, and Gasly was tenth. So they couldn’t compete with Mercedes and Carlos Sainz either. “Our pace has slowed significantly compared to the timer.” – said Akoun. “We couldn’t be as fast as we were on Saturday and we like the strong group in front of us. We still have to work on this. We need to understand the reasons.”
Regarding the reasons, the Frenchman spoke with restraint, but at the same time hinted that Alpine was aware of what he was afraid of in the Spanish race. “I guess we can…but change it? It’s going to be harder.” – Tell.
“We must not forget that I scored 19 points in the previous two races. We can be proud of this weekend as well, because we have been able to make progress in terms of the pace of the car. I am sure that we can maintain this trend and we will find something for the competitions as well.” Comment confidently.
After the result in Monaco, the team’s manager, Otmar Zafnauer, called the double points scored in Spain “insignificant”. Then in terms of continuing, he added that they expect a better result again at the Canadian Grand Prix which will be held next weekend.
“Of course, we are aiming for more than the lean points, as happened last week in Monaco. But the performance of the car is solid and we will compete with others” – Tell. “There are a few things we need to improve and fix some little things. We are looking forward to the Canadian race and ready to fight for better positions.” He finished his thought.
Otmar Szafnauer (Photo: XPB)
