Austria – the performance of the French drivers: points for Gasly (7th) and Ocon (8th)!

Starting 12th on the grid, the Norman is satisfied with his position at the finish, judging that his AlphaTauri could not do better. Starting on medium tires, Pierre Gasly had all the cards in his hands to have a good race on Sunday.

Initially, nothing very impressive for the AlphaTauri driver, who maintained his 12th position, which quickly became a 9th place following the retirements of Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, and Lance Stroll.

Like many drivers who started on medium tires, Gasly stopped under the first Safety Car, maintaining his position and capitalizing on his opponents’ mistakes to secure a strong 7th place.

It feels good to be back on track and have races like that! Afterwards, for us, it was super intense. After 10 laps, the team told me to stop to check the brakes because I had the brake pedal that was completely flat, with the front brakes overheating.

I asked to do one more lap to see if it would get better and finally I continued the race when we were close to giving up. It just goes to show, it doesn’t take much! I think if we had been told at the start of the weekend that we would leave with a 7th place, we would have signed up for it because we know it’s a bit complicated facing the McLaren, Racing Point, and Renault.

« I continued the race when we were on the verge of giving up. It just goes to show, it doesn’t take much to keep going! »

What a first race for his return! Starting 14th on the grid, the native of Evreux was disappointed with his qualifying, as he couldn’t keep up with the other Renault of Daniel Ricciardo in Q3.

Esteban Ocon got off to a poor start in the race, losing two positions to Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Antonio Giovanazzi’s Alfa Romeo. Although the Frenchman managed to get past the Italian driver later on, it took him more than fifteen laps to find an opening on the Danish driver, who was simultaneously suffering from brake problems, forcing him to retire.

The new Renault driver also took some time to overtake Kvyat, which prevented him from challenging the Gasly-Sainz-Leclerc group. Ultimately finishing eighth, Esteban Ocon well deserves this position for not making any mistakes throughout the race, especially since it was his first in 20 months.

« I am happy with how the race went. It’s clear that a lot happened, we had to stay on track, and we managed to do it. The car had a very good race pace, I was really surprised to see how I was able to catch up with the others. We just need to qualify better, and we should make life easier for the next race. »

« We had to stay on track and we managed to do it »

Unlike his teammate Kevin Magnussen, who was eliminated in Q1, the Frenchman managed to get his Haas into Q2, in 15th position. Unfortunately, Grosjean lost a few places right from the start to Magnussen, Giovanazzi, and Räikkönen.

It was only thanks to Max Verstappen’s retirement that Romain Grosjean managed to gain a position before beginning a slow descent into hell, as he experienced so often last year.

The nightmare began halfway through the race when the Haas driver clipped the gravel at turn number 4, sending him into a spin. Later in the race, he suffered brake problems at the same turn, forcing him to retire.

I felt it coming. We tried to increase the lift and cost, which means releasing the gas at the end of the straight to let the car roll. In the end, we were losing almost 400 meters per lap, and it still gave out.

The biggest problem is the car’s performance, which is extremely complicated to drive in traffic, with characteristics that are quite extreme in one direction or the other. So we need to understand before the next Grand Prix next week. We will conduct tests, try different wings and aerodynamic levels to see what we can do in that regard.

« At the end, we were almost 400 meters behind per lap… and it still broke. »