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A smooth and largely uneventful race allowed both Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly to finish in the top ten, in eighth and ninth respectively, and take home points for the team.
Both drivers followed a one-stop Medium to Hard strategy in the 50 lap race although Gasly feared damage to his A523 in lap one on the exit of Turn 2 when Oscar Piastri of McLaren tagged him. Thankfully he made it through with no damage.
Gasly opted to pit for Hards on lap 4, with Ocon following two laps later, before a safety car for Lance Stroll’s retirement on lap 17 had both drivers jumped by Yuki Tsunoda, who was yet to pit. However both BWT Alpine driver’s passed him in lap 24 before running the rest of the race conservatively to maintain and guarantee their six points.
After the race, Ocon said “Overall, I would say it’s been a reasonable race for the team. The final result reflects our performance in the race and eighth place is the maximum we could have achieved today. Having both cars in the points is definitely positive, especially after Bahrain, but we must not be completely satisfied with where we are at the moment. Our car has potential and we will continue learning and building to catch up to our competitors. We want to challenge for positions higher up the grid, and we will keep working hard to do that.”
Gasly added “It’s definitely satisfying to make it two points finishes from my first two races with the team. I think finishing in eighth and ninth was the best we could achieve today, though. We’re making positive steps; we’re learning things each time we get in the car and we must continue to apply that knowledge to keep improving the overall package.”
