Oliver Oakes: Monza will be much harder

The first race with Oliver Oakes as team boss yielded points for the Alpine team…

Oliver OakTeam boss: “I am happy that the team leaves Zandvoort with points after a race in which we finished fifth.

We made good progress after a difficult Friday with a lot of work, we chose the right strategy in the race, extended the first stint, were able to stay ahead of Aston Martin and let the drivers attack.

Before the race we hoped to at least try to maintain our position, but we knew it wouldn’t be easy because some of the cars behind us were faster.

Pierre drove a great race, ahead of both Aston Martin drivers in the early stages and made several good overtakes to earn two important points for the team. Esteban’s day was somewhat spoiled by yesterday’s qualifying and he ended up where he started.

Monza is only a few days away, it will probably be much more difficult for us there.”

Pierre Gasly (9th): “Nice race, always nice to get some points. I am very happy with the progress we have made since Friday, we managed to turn the tide and become the best team behind the top four.

At the start I overtook Fernando and Lance on the outside of the first corner. This helped a lot in the further battle, it allowed us to control the situation and take care of the tyres. After the pit stop there were still some overtaking moves to be done and I was confident in the car, it was accurate in the braking points and I was able to gain two points. We keep making progress and hope to keep this momentum.”

Esteban Ocon (15th): “After this weekend we have to analyse everything, because I came with completely different expectations.

A difficult race, just like the whole weekend. Fifteenth place is the maximum I could achieve today, considering the heavy traffic on the track where it is difficult to overtake.

But there are also positive aspects. Pierre showed good pace and managed to score important points. We only have a few days to turn the situation around and return to the battle in Monza in better shape.”