‘Job well done,’ Otmar Szafnauer on Alpine’s outing at French GP
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Otmar Szafnauer
Otmar Szafnauer the Alpine team Principal has recently given his thoughts on the performance of the team during its home Grand Prix in France.
Alpine was able to land both of its cars in points-scoring positions in Paul Ricard and moreover, Otmar Szafnauer is extremely happy with the mega job that Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon did for the team.
While talking about the team’s exploits in France, Otmar said, “It was not an easy weekend as everyone had to deal with high temperatures. After a difficult Friday, during which we were not particularly competitive, we worked well as a team, in a precise direction, and found good ways to improve for Saturday.“
“lt with our two cars and, above all, to beat McLaren, our direct rival, who had made some interesting developments that allowed them to win in competitiveness. Our race pace was once again good, and we know that’s where the points are awarded.”
“Fernando had a faultless race. A good start to pass Lando [Norris] was our plan. Then, from there, he handled everything perfectly, as always. Esteban did a good job of forgetting a complex Friday.”
Otmar Szafnauer has stressed that it was not all smooth sailing for the French team at Paul Ricard and has further stressed that the team had to come up with solutions to make the car competitive.
Moreover, the 57-year-old believes, his drivers did everything as they planned ahead of the race, and overall the team’s home outing was a successful one.
Otmar Szafnauer pleased was pleased with Esteban Ocon after a tough Friday in France
Esteban Ocon was a bit off the pace of his teammate Fernando Alonso in France as he was seen struggling to put times close to the experienced Spanish driver.
During Qualifying Ocon was knocked out in Q2 whereas Alonso was able to make it into Q3. Otmar Szafnauer while stressing about the young Frenchman’s struggles said, “He took a good step forward in terms of performance, which allowed him to come back with four earned runs thanks in particular to two nice passes over Daniel [Ricciardo] in the other McLaren.”
“A home race, two cars in the points, and fourth place in the championship, we can talk about a job well done! “
Ocon started the race from P10 because of the penalties that Carlos Sainz and Kevin Magnussen got and from there onwards the 25-year-old was able to deliver a fine performance for the team during which he was able to overtake Daniel Ricciardo twice.
His exploits in Paul Ricard landed him in P8 and Alonso on the other hand, was able to get up to 6th in the standings. What makes the result a crucial one for the team is the fact that Alpine is now fourth in the Constructors standings ahead of McLaren.
Will they be able to hold on to the fourth spot at the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix?
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