A strong weekend from both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon ensured that the BWT Alpine F1 Team‘s lead of fourth place in the Constructors’ over McLaren grew by sixteen points, this weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Starting in third place, Alonso’s race was nearly undone from the get-go as Lewis Hamilton squeezed the Spaniard into Turn Five with contact between the two resulting in Hamilton having to retire on the opening lap.
Speaking on the incident, Alonso declared the collision between the two as simply a racing incident.
With Alonso escaping from the incident seemingly unharmed, the Alpine driver was able to go about his race around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit to come home for what at first appeared to be a sixth-placed finish.
However, a five-second time penalty for Charles Leclerc for speeding in the pit-lane gifted Alonso a late fifth-place finish.
Speaking after another impressive performance in the 2022 Formula 1 season, Alonso was left delighted with his and his team’s performances today.
“I am happy with the result today with fifth place. Our performance shows that we are consistently ahead in the midfield. It’s clear that when we execute our races well, these are the results we can expect to score.
“We were also handed a little gift with the penalty to Charles [Leclerc] at the end, but we’ll take it. The incident with Lewis [Hamilton] was also unfortunate, but it’s a racing incident and the car seemed fine despite the contact. We can look back and be very pleased with our weekend here with more points scored in both championships as we look ahead to Zandvoort next.”
Esteban Ocon: “I personally had a lot of fun out there racing today”
Despite starting in sixteenth place on the grid, Esteban Ocon was able to execute a strong race to bring home a valuable seventh place finish for the Alpine team.
Ocon had originally qualified in fifth, but new engine components had seen the Frenchmen drop towards the back of the grid. The 25-year-old was able to take his strong pace from qualifying into today’s race as the Alpine driver gradually worked his way through the field.
Ocon was particularly impressive in executing two double overtakes during today’s race, the first into the bus stop chicane, with the latter being a fine double overtake on Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel into turn five.
Speaking after the race, Ocon was keen to compliment his team’s hard work throughout the weekend.
“What a way to wrap up what’s been a fantastic weekend for the team. The car was fast, and I personally had a lot of fun out there racing today, especially with those double overtakes.
“Well done to the team for their work this weekend, we can all be proud of ourselves. I was feeling confident all race and the car felt great and who knows what could’ve happened if we had started further up the road!
“We leave Spa satisfied, knowing it was a job well done, as well as a good haul of points for the team to extend our fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship. Bring on Zandvoort.”
Credit: BWT Alpine F1 Team