Laurent Rossi had been scathing towards Alpine, of which he is the CEO: the Frenchman had spoken about the very disappointing start of the French team’s season, in terms of finances.<\/p>\n
But all things considered, the French team rolled up their sleeves and had a superb weekend in Monaco: it all started with the qualifying session, where Esteban Ocon positioned himself as a candidate for pole position! Ultimately finishing third, the Normandy driver did not leave that spot the next day (excluding pit stops, of course) and stepped onto the podium for the third time in his career. Magnificent!<\/p>\n
A French car with a French driver shining in Monaco… does it ring a bell? Even our youngest readers must have heard about it: Olivier Panis led his Ligier-Mugen\/Honda to victory, after a true carnage, in 1996.<\/p>\n
It had taken 24 years for France to triumph again in Formula 1. Esteban Ocon put an end to a 27-year streak: since Panis in 1996, a Frenchman had never stepped on the podium. This performance, moreover achieved in difficult conditions, will do wonders for the Alpine team before heading to Barcelona.<\/p>\n
Who knows what it would have been like with the pole position…but with “ifs”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a Monaco Grand Prix where the victory was (more or less) contested, Esteban Ocon converted his qualifying position into a well-deserved podium. It has been ages since a Frenchman last stepped on the podium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":33632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[52,330,499],"class_list":["post-3503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-alpine","tag-ocon","tag-grand-prix-de-monaco"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n