Styria – French performance: no points this time!
Sad outcome for our French drivers with no finishes in the points this Sunday! Despite a good qualification, Esteban Ocon retired due to a cooling issue on his Renault. Also starting in the top 10, Pierre Gasly had a difficult Sunday as well, finishing 15th, two places behind Romain Grosjean, who at least had the merit of finishing in his Haas.
Romain Grosjean (13th)
Due to a technical problem, Romain Grosjean did not have the opportunity to participate in the qualifying on Saturday. Starting from the last position from the pits, it was a difficult context for the Frenchman from Haas, finishing 15th.
Grosjean at least avoided mechanical issues but experienced an anonymous, difficult race where his only competitor was his teammate Kevin Magnussen, whom he lost to (the Dane finishing ahead in 14th). At the same time, the Haas F1 Team is dealing with problem after problem, which doesn’t make it easy for the drivers, who have to cope with a very uncompetitive and difficult-to-drive car. And Grosjean’s bad streak continues, with 12 consecutive races outside the points, a series ongoing since his 7th place finish at the German Grand Prix… on July 28, 2019!
Pierre Gasly (15th)
Qualified 8th after a rainy qualifying session, the Norman managed to reach Q3 while on the other side of the garage Kvyat did no better than 14th. Thanks to Lando Norris’s 3-place penalty, Pierre Gasly started from 7th position.
Overtaken by Daniel Ricciardo at the lights-out, it quickly became apparent that the AlphaTauri was not fast enough to hold off cars like the Renault, McLaren, or Racing Point. Seeing Pierre Gasly dropping down the order, the Italian team decided to pit their driver early in the race so he wouldn’t have to fight in traffic.
But with very worn medium tires compared to the others, the Norman didn’t last long in the pack where he continued to drop in the standings. Finally, his team pitted him a second time, but it was too late: the points were no longer within reach. Finishing 15th, Gasly was beaten by Kvyat, both in qualifying and in the race.
Initially, I got hit by Daniel (editor’s note: Ricciardo). I almost spun out! After that, the rear of the car was really hard to handle. I tried to do what I could at the beginning but it was very complicated and after that, we couldn’t do much.
« We had a very good first Grand Prix on Saturday, the qualifying in the rain was really great, so we’ll look at all the work we’ve done. I think there’s a lot of positive aspects, we just need to find a bit more performance when we arrive in Budapest.
« At the start I got hit by Daniel (editor’s note: Ricciardo). I almost spun out! »
Esteban Ocon (Retirement)
Starting 5th on the grid, the Normand proved his ability to drive in the rain on Saturday. Racing in Normandy with its bad weather had already allowed Esteban to secure a nice 3rd place in Belgium in 2018. This Sunday, he lost his 5th place at the start to Alexander Albon’s Red Bull.
Then the Frenchman had to battle with his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo. Between the aggressive attacks of the Australian and Ocon’s rigorous defense, the people on the Renault pit wall certainly got scared several times! Eventually, with medium tires in better condition, Ricciardo finally got rid of his garage neighbor.
A battle that unfortunately could not be completed in the second half of the race due to a cooling issue that struck the Renault No. 31, driven by Esteban Ocon.
« We had a cooling problem with the car that had a leak somewhere. We don’t know exactly what it is. In any case, we had a reliability issue this time, it happens in motorsport unfortunately. »
« We had two different strategies with Daniel, I went with the soft tires, which had a little bit more degradation. We were catching up with Sainz. At that moment, it was still a good race, we still had a lot to play for but what happened is unfortunate. »
