Alpine is disappointed with the result of the sprint in Imola – Fernando Alonso has lost four places and will start ninth in Sunday’s race. His teammate Esteban Ocon moved up from 19th to 16th. Both riders expect a better result in Sunday’s race.
Fernando Alonso (9th): “Today we were not fast enough, so the result of the sprint was disappointing. The tires have deteriorated a lot, my start was far from ideal, so in the evening I have to find out what the reasons are. I knew it would be difficult to control Perez and Sainz, so we considered seventh as an achievable result. However, due to the degradation of rubber, this result proved difficult to achieve.
Tomorrow we have to bounce back after today’s sprint, which was more like the fourth qualifying session! We will review our tire choice and see what the weather will be like tomorrow – apparently there is a chance of rain. We will definitely fight again.”
Esteban Ocon (16th): “All in all a difficult race, but we knew it was going to be difficult to regain positions. The sixteenth result is probably our maximum. I got off to a good start, avoiding incidents, but then got stuck behind a “train” of other cars. It was difficult to regain positions, but I’m sure we can achieve more tomorrow.
Our goal is to earn points. Today we have a better understanding of tires, which will help in choosing a strategy. In addition, rain is possible and as we know anything can happen in Formula 1.
Otmar Safnauer, team leader: “The results of the sprint disappointed the team – there is work to be done for tomorrow’s race. Unfortunately Fernando’s race was ruined at the start when he couldn’t move quickly. As a result, he was more defensive than offensive for most of the distance. He was unable to regain the position and we need to identify areas that will make the car more competitive over the race distance.
As for Esteban, he took advantage of the incident on the first lap and recaptured positions, starting the race from a higher position than today.
Tomorrow we will have to follow the changeable weather that the forecast promises. We have a tough race ahead of us, but we will do our best and try to score points with two cars in the main event of the weekend.”
Source: F1 News
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