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BWT Alpine F1 scored 12 points at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as Esteban Ocon drove an excellent race to climb twelve places from sixteenth to fourth whilst Pierre Gasly unfortunately finished just outside the points to finish in eleventh.
In the opening lap Ocon gained an impressive eight places whilst Gasly held onto his opening position of fourth. He then pitted on lap 17 for new Hards with Ocon following for his mandatory stop three laps later. Both drivers found it was then about managing the tyres from there until the end of the race and battling for position.
Ocon passed Gasly to fall into fifth place on lap 34 and then took fourth place when Oscar Piastri took a late pitstop before later conceding fourth to George Russell. However, Russell’s five second penalty then allowed Ocon to reclaim fourth place and take a well-deserved 12 points home for the team.
Reflecting, Ocon said: “What a night in Las Vegas to be outside of the points to finishing in fourth place! I would like to say a massive congratulations to the team for this great result and amazing recovery. It was a chaotic start and we managed to keep it clean and gain eight positions on lap one. After that, we had to be patient, execute a clean race and managing the tyres was really the key. I made some good overtakes along the way and to finish fourth at this amazing venue is really a great result, especially considering how I was left feeling after Qualifying. There is one more race to go in Abu Dhabi next week and we will aim to carry this momentum into the season finale”
Gasly added: “It’s a disappointing outcome on my side of the garage to go from fourth on the grid to outside of the points in eleventh place. There are many things for us to review as that is not what we set out to achieve today. It was a good start under tricky conditions, the first stint was fairly well managed and we were comfortably in that top four mix. As soon as we put the Hard tyre on, we just seemed to struggle, the tyres grained and the whole second stint was a challenge just to get to the end. It was a frustrating night and it’s a pity for us. That said, it’s been a very good weekend for the team with fourth place in Qualifying and then Esteban’s fourth place in the Race.”
The team now looks to Abu Dhabi for the final race of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, taking place this weekend, 25th-26th November.
