French-speaking situation: Esteban Ocon in dire straits at home
Showing a very good pace on Friday, Esteban Ocon failed to convert his hopes of scoring points in the race and found himself losing more positions than gaining.
In qualifying, Esteban Ocon was disappointed not to follow his teammate into Q3. It was all the more damaging as all the drivers qualified in the top 10 had used the medium tires. This limited the strategic options for the French driver.
The Normand therefore decided to start the race with the hard tires in order to extend his first stint as long as possible, hoping not to lose time in traffic.
Unfortunately for Esteban Ocon, he didn’t gain enough time in his second stint and even saw the two Aston Martins, which had a better first stint, leave the pits in front of him. Losing a position to Yuki Tsunoda as well, so it was the 14th position that awaited the native of Évreux at the finish.
When assessing his weekend at home, disappointment was clearly prevalent: It is clear that overall we did not have any speed in this race. There was something wrong with the car. Whether on mediums or hards, we degraded a lot and lost a lot of performance. I couldn’t even catch up with the Williams at the end of the race.
At the same time, Fernando Alonso managed to stand out by securing eighth place, allowing him to widen the gap with his teammate in the championship (17 points against 12). One can imagine that he will make a round trip to the Enstone headquarters for new simulator sessions as the next weeks will be dedicated to the two Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.
