Alonso: Safety car ruined my chances

Esteban Okon scored points for the Alpine team in Melbourne, finishing seventh. His teammate Fernando Alonso finished the race outside the top ten. Both riders noted that the result could have been better if the starting positions had been higher.

Esteban Ocon (7th): “I have mixed feelings after the finish. On the one hand it is nice to score points in the third race in a row, but on the other hand the result could have been better today. If I had qualified a little higher, I would most likely have finished in the top five. So the potential was higher. Fernando was able to finish in the top five, which corresponds to our speed.

But we learned a lot this weekend. The car didn’t behave the way I wanted – the rear lacked stability in qualifying and in the race, although it was fine on Friday.

We understood which direction not to go. The team will now be able to use this information in the future.”

Fernando Alonso (17th): “Today I counted on sixth or seventh place. The start on hard tires went well, but the safety car took off at the wrong time, depriving me of all opportunities.

Honestly I have no words for it because today we could compete for the podium if I qualified third or fourth. Max Verstappen stopped, George Russell came on the podium, although we were faster than Mercedes this weekend. We missed opportunities in Jeddah, we missed opportunities here – we’re out of luck. There are still 20 races to go – I hope luck will be on our side in some of them.

In Imola we are in for a real test as the track is slower compared to the one we have already driven on. Let’s see if we can maintain our speed. I think everyone will bring new items to the next stage, so we’ll find out how fast we are.”