Fernando Alonso: “It was a very good race for us today here in São Paulo”

After a remarkable drive from the ninth row of the grid all the way to a fifth-place finish, Fernando Alonso has spoken on what he has described as a “very good race” for the BWT Alpine F1 Team at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.

Alonso’s fifth-place finish combined with Esteban Ocon’s eighth-place finish has allowed the Enstone-based team to open up a nineteen-point gap over the McLaren F1 Team in the tightly contested battle for fourth in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship Constructors’ Standings.

Starting from seventeenth-place on the grid, Alonso undertook a three-stop strategy which included three consecutive stints on the Medium compound of tyre, allowing the Spaniard to see out the final nineteen laps of the race on the Soft tyres.

Alonso was quick to utilise his new Soft tyres in the closing laps by gaining three places in eight laps, and with just five laps remaining in the race, Alonso would set his sights firmly on Sergio Pérez. The Mexican was able to fend off the Alpine driver into turn one, but with DRS enabled on the Alpine, Alonso would go onto make a routine pass on the run into turn four to claim fifth-place.

Speaking on his performance at the São Paulo Grand Prix, Alonso stated: “It was a very good race for us today here in São Paulo. The car was very competitive and with our race strategy we were out of sync with most of the cars. Then, at the end, during the Safety Car period, I had newer tyres and we pushed as close to the front as we could; I overtook Sergio [Perez] and then I tried to look at Charles [Leclerc] but they were a step too fast for overtaking.“

The two-time world champion would end by reflecting on the incident between himself and his teammate during Saturday’s Sprint, in which Alonso admitted to being at fault, while also confirming he would be giving everything for the team in Abu Dhabi to close out his Alpine career on a positive note.

“I made a mistake yesterday when Esteban and I made contact, so today we wanted to do our best and race hard for the team. We needed these points heading to Abu Dhabi. There is one more race with the team to go and my heart is in the racing.”

Esteban Ocon: “It’s a great for the team today and I’m very happy with our race”

Esteban Ocon was left equally delighted on the other side of the Alpine garage, as the Frenchman was also able to recover from the disappointment of Saturday’s Sprint to claim a finish inside the points-paying positions.

Ocon and Alpine opted to go for a two-stop strategy, as opposed to Alonso’s three-stop strategy, which included two stints on the Soft tyre for the one-time Grand Prix winner, separated by a twenty-three lap stint on the Medium tyre.

Pitting from fifth in the running order on lap forty-seven, Ocon rejoined the grid in eleventh-place and was able to utilise his new Soft tyres to work his way past both Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team drivers and Valtteri Bottas to rejoin the points-paying positions. The Frenchman would ultimately run out of time to catch Sergio Perez, leaving Ocon having to settle for an eight-place finish.

On his performance at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Ocon remarked: “It’s a great result for the team today and I’m very happy with our race. We maximised the different strategies on both cars and scored fourteen points heading into the last race of the season. It was a good recovery drive from Fernando and me after starting from where we did, so credit to the team for the execution.“

The Alpine driver followed up by complimenting the team’s resolve following a tough showing for the entire team on Saturday. Ocon also issued a rallying call to the team ahead of next weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, where the Enstone-based team will be looking to secure fourth in the Constructors’.

“We knew we had to be at our best after yesterday’s disappointment and that’s exactly what we did in the race. The season is not over and we still have one more race to go. It’s going to be full push until the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.”

Credit: BWT Alpine F1 Team