Alpine’s Otmar Szafnauer: Austria proves “the team is continuing its momentum forwards” after recent upgrades

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon achieved his best finish of the season, taking fifth place at the Austrian Grand Prix, as team-mate Fernando Alonso finished tenth after starting at the back due to the issues he had on the starting grid of the sprint race. 

Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer congratulated Ocon for his impressive result which coincided with his hundredth Grand Prix. He also said that the result proves that the team’s recent upgrades are having a positive effect. 

“Firstly, congratulations to Esteban for marking his 100th Formula 1 Grand Prix start by scoring ten points in fifth place. He thoroughly deserved that after driving so well today and executing a very good two-stop strategy. 

“By scoring so highly, combined with yesterday’s effort in the Sprint, it means the team is continuing its momentum forwards after delivering some good upgrades at recent events.”

Szafnauer praised Alonso’s recovery drive at the Red Bull Ring, but said that the reliability issues he faced put a hamper on an otherwise successful weekend. He emphasized the importance of solving these problems moving forward. 

“Fernando too drove exceptionally well to put behind yesterday’s disappointment and go from the back of the grid through to a points-scoring position. We had some reliability issues this weekend, which means we cannot leave Austria feeling completely satisfied. We must focus on getting on top of these issues so we can have a trouble-free second half of the season. 

“We clearly have a quick car, but we must also ensure all operational issues of the team are performing to a high standard, so we continue to score good points with both cars.”