At Imola, the Alpine team scored no points for the first time this season. Esteban Ocon finished 11th but fell back to 14th line in race protocol after a five-second penalty for unsafe release on the track.
His team-mate Fernando Alonso retired due to damage to the car, which was hit by a wheel by Mick Schumacher during a corner on the opening lap. Alpine dropped from fifth to sixth in the constructors’ championship ahead of Alfa Romeo.
Esteban Ocon (14th): “A disappointing race in which we didn’t earn a single point. My weekend didn’t work out well from the start – the qualifying results affected the stage results, but everything went well until the penalty in the race.
I was a bit short on speed, so at the end I wasn’t fast enough to score points, even without a five-second penalty. The pit lane is very narrow, but in the evening we will analyze what happened to see if it could have been prevented. We draw conclusions and move on. I’m looking forward to racing in Miami.”
Fernando Alonso (retirement): “Another bad race for us this season. I had a good start and climbed to eighth position, but then the right pontoon and bottom got damaged so I had no choice but to get off. Unfortunately there was a bit of contact with Mick Schumacher – he wasn’t intentional, but he ruined my car and the race.
I feel like I could have earned 20 or 30 points in the last two stages, but I only have two. What a bad luck! But there is a long season ahead and there are still a lot of points to earn.”
Laurent Rossic, CEO: “To put it simply, the team had a disappointing weekend. For the first time in the season we leave the track with no points earned. We need to make sure it doesn’t happen again this year because we have a higher potential.
The team can improve on many points. We need to eradicate bugs quickly if we are to achieve our ambitious goals. Despite the disappointment with today’s result, we will consider it an additional motivation not to experience such feelings again. I’m sure the team will continue to work hard and we will bounce back at the next round in Miami.”
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
