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Friday’s late night qualifying took place on the infamous Las Vegas strip. While Pierre Gasly had a positive and impressive lap, securing him P3 for the Grand Prix on Saturday night, his teammate Esteban Ocon struggled and failed to make it out of Q2, missing out by just a tenth of a second.
Pierre Gasly: “I’m very happy to qualify in the top three today. The lap felt incredible and it was one of those when you cross the line and you know that everything was thrown at it. I never imagined that we would be in the top three, though, that was a surprise. Tomorrow, we will give it everything but we know where our fight is. It’s a tough race for tyre degradation and graining.”
Esteban Ocon: “Firstly, congratulations to Pierre and the team on the great result in Qualifying. On my side, I am very happy with the lap in Qualifying today and, though it is a pity that we missed out on Q3 by just a tenth of a second, we will be starting in eleventh, which puts us in a position to try and fight for points. It will be interesting to see how tyre degradation will play into the results of the race tomorrow. Hopefully it will open up the door to some good opportunities for us to move forward.”
With the positive outcome of qualifying, Pierre Gasly securing P3 and Esteban Ocon missing out on Q3 by a tenth of a second, the team spirits were high as the lights went out and the race began. The start was clean from most drivers, causing no yellow or red flags, during the uneventful start Max Verstappen passed Pierre Gasly for P3.
Esteban Ocon’s race was slowly unfolding into disappointment as he was reporting his tyres degrading and therefore was struggling for pace and fighting off other drivers for positions. Esteban Ocon wasn’t the only Alpine driver dealing with disappointment, as Pierre Gasly shouted over the radio “no power” as his Alpine had smoke exiting from the engine, this was a harsh blow to his impressive qualifying performance, therefore also damaging the fight for P6 in the Constructors Championship, leaving him parked inside the Alpine garage.
Further on in the race, Esteban Ocon was struggling to pave his way through the field, having to defend against RB driver Liam Lawson. After an incident in turn 3 between Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson, both expressing their frustration over the radio over the contact, the Stewards decided no further investigation was needed and both drivers were left with no penalties, with Esteban Ocon finishing P17.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix showcased that the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly is capable of fighting for points and a chance in Q3, although the weekend wasn’t the outcome they hoped for in front of the Las Vegas strip, they showed that they have the fight and the skills to fight to keep P6 in the Constructors Championship
Esteban Ocon:“It was not our race today and we finished outside the points. We need to review what happened at our first pit-stop as it meant we effectively did a drive through the pit lane. It is a pity and we need to come back from this. We did not take the opportunity today where I was confident of at least being in the fight for points. We will review everything and aim to do better in Qatar next time out.”
Pierre Gasly: “It’s a very disappointing feeling today for all of us in the team. After the high of yesterday with our Qualifying performance and strong grid position, today is a tough one to take. We knew the race would be challenging but, in the end, we weren’t able to truly show our potential after an issue with the car forced us to retire. We will learn from this and aim to carry our pace into Qatar next weekend. There is a lot to play for and we will do our best to come back stronger.”
Oliver Oakes, Team Principal:“It’s not the outcome we were hoping for today. A Power Unit issue brought an early end to Pierre’s race. With Esteban, a mistake with his first stop meant he had to stop twice. We need to put this weekend behind us. The pace we showed yesterday, and in the race, underlines the positive improvements we have made in recent weeks and gives us reason to be optimistic heading into the final two races.”
