Esteban Ocon: “To finish fourth is a fantastic result for us”

Esteban Ocon was left delighted with what he called a ‘fantastic result’ at the Japanese Grand Prix, which helped his BWT Alpine F1 Team reclaim fourth-place from the McLaren F1 Team in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship Constructors Standings.

The French driver undertook a herculean effort to hold off seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in a red flag affected race around the Suzuka International Racing Course to come home for a season-best fourth-placed finish.

After his impressive qualifying outing on Saturday, the Alpine driver would move up a place on the grid come the eventual restart from the red flag due to Carlos Sainz Jr.’s retirement on the opening lap of the race.

After holding his position on the restart of the race, Ocon would move onto the intermediate tyres on the seventh-lap of the race and would then become embroiled in a tight battle with Hamilton for the remainder of the shortened race around Suzuka.

Hamilton would come close on multiple occasions with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver coming close to an overtake at 130R on multiple occasions but the straight line speed of the A522 would prove too much for the W13.

Ocon would come home for a fourth-place finish with Hamilton just over five tenths of a second behind in fifth-place. Ocon’s twelve-point haul from Suzuka has helped the Enstone-based team overtake McLaren in the tightly contested battle for fourth in the Constructors and Ocon was left delighted with his day’s work in Japan.

“To finish fourth is a fantastic result for us, especially in these conditions. It was a difficult start with the rain and poor visibility, so we had to be fully focused to get through the early stages. I’m glad we managed to race and reward the fans who have been so good in their support all weekend.

“Racing Lewis [Hamilton] is always a pleasure and I was having to drive while looking in my mirrors the whole time.

“Congratulations to Max for winning the world championship. He deserves it after dominating and driving brilliantly at every race. We leave Japan with a great haul of points, claiming back fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.”

Fernando Alonso: “I’m glad we managed to put on a show in the end for the fans”

Fernando Alonso was also involved in his fair share of battles around Suzuka and after a second pit-stop of the race the Spaniard would be involved in a photo-line finish with Sebastian Vettel in a battle for sixth-place.

Like his team-mate, Alonso would gain one place from his original starting position by the time of the restart due to the crash suffered by his compatriot on the opening lap of the race.

Alonso would soon lose out on the sixth-placed that he had inherited as a result of Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team’s call to bring Vettel in early for a set of intermediate tyres.

The Spaniard would push Vettel close but was unable to make a move stick on the four-time world champion and with the threat of George Russell behind closing in, Alpine elected to bring Alonso in for a fresh set of intermediate tyres. Alonso would rejoin the grid in ninth-place and just four laps later the two-time world champion was able to overtake Russell on the penultimate lap of the race to set up a late duel with Vettel.

With a fresher set of tyres underneath him the Spanish driver was once again able to push Vettel close and a tight duel between the two experienced drivers would run from turn sixteen all the way to the finish line with the Aston Martin driver able to keep his nose in front by just 0.011 seconds to leave Alonso with a seventh-place finish in Suzuka.

Speaking on his race, Alonso noted how he was happy to get racing around Suzuka for the Japanese fans who patiently waited in the rain during the red flag but also spoke on how discussion would need to be undertaken regarding the safety incidents that arose in the early stages of the race.

“It was a fun but very chaotic race today and I’m glad we managed to put on a show in the end for the fans. We scored some good points and I think we could have scored even more.

“It was a difficult race to manage with the wet conditions, safety cars and the red flag. There were also couple of incidents which I’m sure will be reviewed to improve for the future.

“Finally, congratulations to Max [Verstappen] on winning the Championship. Overall, it’s very well deserved and hopefully next year he has more competition!”
 

Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd