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After a disappointing result at the previous race, the BWT Alpine F1 Team came back with a bang at the Japanese Grand Prix and won 18 points in total.
The weather was against the driver’s with the race being red flagged after only two laps due to intense spray and a number of incidents on the track. There was a lengthy delay where the overall three-hour race limit continued to reduce with the two hour window coming into effect an hour after the initial start. Race control waited patiently for a suitable gap in the rain to get the race going again.
When there was under 50 minutes left on the race clock the Safety Car led everyone out from the pit lane for a planned rolling start before they were all released and all forced to run wets to work with the conditions.
Ocon then began a race long battle with Lewis Hamilton but managed to use his defensive skills to his advantage to fend off the seven time world champion successfully to finish in 4th. He said “To finish fourth is a fantastic result for us, especially in these conditions. It was a difficult start with the rain and poor visibility, so we had to be fully focused to get through the early stages. I’m glad we managed to race and reward the fans who have been so good in their support all weekend.”
Alonso held his seventh position throughout the race and took on Sebastian Vettel for sixth place, looking like he would jump him to sixth. He also managed to claw back 22 seconds in six laps before narrowly missing out for sixth place by 0.011seconds. He added “It was a fun but very chaotic race today and I’m glad we managed to put on a show in the end for the fans. We scored some good points and I think we could have scored even more. It was a difficult race to manage with the wet conditions, safety cars and the red flag.”
The team climbed back into fourth place in the Constructors standing as they move to continue their excellent performance in the US on October 21st-23rd.
