Spanish Grand Prix – Ocon secures points
Qualifying in 5th place, Esteban Ocon was unable to maintain this excellent position throughout the race and finished a disappointing 9th.
On Saturday, Ocon had a very good qualifying session. Indeed, 5th on the grid, the Frenchman was achieving his best performance since his return to Formula 1 this weekend.
Unfortunately, at the start, the Alpine driver loses positions and finds himself overtaken by Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren and Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.
While his rivals are on a two-stop strategy, Ocon remains on a one-stop strategy and finds himself in 6th place. Despite his efforts, 13 laps before the end, the native of Évreux finds himself relegated to 9th position behind the two McLarens and the two Ferraris.
This race showed the evolution of Alpine and Ocon but the road is still long before the French team can establish itself as one of the best teams in the midfield.
We were almost 2 seconds per lap slower.
(I) I think overall we were lacking a bit of performance in this race. There are things that we need to look at internally because it’s clear that towards the end we were struggling with tire life. We were almost 2 seconds per lap slower than the cars on a two-stop strategy. But overall it’s positive because last year we finished 11th and 13th and today we end up in the points on a circuit that is not normally the best for us.
I can’t wait to go back to Monaco. It’s been many years since I haven’t driven there because I missed the Grand Prix in 2019, and in 2020 it didn’t take place. It’s good news to go back there, it’s a circuit that I really appreciate, but I will still have to perform well in qualifying.
