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A mixed weekend in Austin sees BWT Alpine F1 Team take home 10 points across the weekend, upped from 6 points after the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for technical breaches.
In the 19-lap Sprint Race on Saturday both drivers started on Used Mediums to gain places inside the top eight to gain points. Ocon moved from 13th to 11th whilst Gasly was able to pass Alexander Albon and Oscar Piastri to finish in 8th place. When George Russell was issued with a five second penalty after the race this saw Gasly inherit seventh place and two points.
On Saturday Ocon started in P8 and gained several places as he made his way up the hill and into Turn 1. On the run down to Turn 2 he was caught in a racing incident with Oscar Piastri which damaged his left sidepod and floor which caused him to retire on lap seven.
Gasly had a better race, starting in P7 but dropping to tenth in the opening lap before climbing back to eight after the two race retirements. He took two pit-stops and fought off the hard charging Aston Martin cars in the closing stages of the race, finishing in eighth place and adding to his points won on Saturday in the Sprint Race. He was pushed up to sixth place after the post-race disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc which doubled his race points from 4 to 8.
Reflecting on the race, Esteban Ocon said: “It’s been a very unfortunate Sunday for us today in Austin. It feels like there’s been quite a few of those this year, which has really cost us. It’s a pity as we had a good starting position for today’s race and once again made up a few places with a strong launch and good opening corner. Unfortunately, there was then contact with Oscar [Piastri] and the damage to our floor was too severe to continue. There are some positives to take from our weekend and a lot to review as well.”
Pierre Gasly added: “I’m feeling very pleased with today’s result and, I must say, it’s probably been our most complete weekend of the season so far with two strong Qualifying results and points from both races. We fell back a couple of positions at the start today, but I knew the pace of the car was good and we were able to keep it clean and fight our way forwards. Of course, we want to be fighting close to the front but this weekend has definitely been better for us where we have been able to extract the maximum from it. Operationally it was smooth and that’s very satisfying for all of us at the team.”
The team now looks ahead to Mexican Grand Prix this weekend where Reserve Driver Jack Doohan will drive Gasly’s A523 for Friday’s Free Practice as part of the team’s two mandatory rookie practice sessions.
