“Finishing the race in seventh is a decent result” – Esteban Ocon

Esteban Ocon continued his run of finishing in the points at every race so far this season, after claiming seventh place at the Australian Grand Prix. BWT Alpine F1 Team team-mate, Fernando Alonso, wasn’t quite as fortunate after suffering a disastrous end to the Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit.

Despite struggling for most of the weekend in what he deemed as a “difficult weekend”, Ocon performed well last Sunday to extend his run of points finishes this season. The Frenchman and his side of the team used what they’d learnt across the weekend, to give them the best chance possible of a points finish during the race.

Ocon was left with mixed emotions though after the race despite finishing seventh, after his team-mate suffered a disappointing race.

“This weekend has ended with some mixed feelings for us. Of course, finishing the race in seventh is a decent result, especially after what was a difficult weekend for me. Yesterday was not our strongest day and that definitely made a difference in how today played out. So, there’s lots of learning for us to do from the last couple of days with the team as we know we’ve got more potential to unlock.

“All in all, I’ve been in the points in three out of three races, and I am leaving Australia satisfied with how my season has started. I am hungry for more and excited for the next one.”

“It’s hard to accept the result after the bad luck we had” – Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso would’ve left Australia wondering what could’ve been, had he not crashed on his first flying lap during final qualifying. Alonso who was blisteringly quick all weekend in Australia, crashed in qualifying whilst on-track for a front row position.

The Spaniard who as a result started tenth, was in the points virtually the whole race until he came into the pits late on for Medium tyres. Unfortunately for Alonso he was unable to fight through the field despite being on the superior tyre compared to those around him, summing up what was another weekend full of bad luck for the Double World Champion.

Alonso was hugely disappointed with his result considering the pace he had all weekend.

“I am gutted with this weekend, to be honest. It’s hard to accept the result after the bad luck we had in Saudi and again here in Melbourne. Today we were looking good for possibly sixth place and of course the podium was even on the cards before yesterday’s issue in qualifying. The strategy was good today and the car felt strong on the Hard tyre.

“The pace was there with everyone stopping on the Mediums around us, but then the Safety Car regrouped the field and it effectively ended our race. Overtaking was difficult today and especially with the DRS train towards the end of the race. We degraded our Medium tyres in this train, so we needed to stop again. There are twenty more races to go and hopefully luck will shift in our favour for the rest of the season!”