2021 Qatar GP : Post-Race reaction from Fernando Alonso and Alpine

ALPINE F1 TEAM REDISCOVERS THE JOYS OF THE PODIUM AFTER SENSATIONAL TEAMWORK IN QATAR. ALONSO CLINCHED HIS FIRST EVER f1 PODIUM SINCE 2014 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX.

Fernando started in third position after the penalties inflicted on Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas. His superb start and his overtaking on Pierre Gasly however lifted the Spaniard to second place and he retained this position until surging Max Verstappen overtakes Alonso.

Esteban Ocon gained four positions to finish fifth after some good battle in the race. Like Fernando, the Frenchman made a good start to pass sixth, before losing a position to fast Red Bull in Sergio Perez. After his only stop and the concerns encountered by other drivers allowed Ocon to clinch important P5 and ten valuable points for team.

This impressive double points finish gives Alpine F1 Team a twenty-five unit lead to fifth position in the Constructors’ Championship going into the last two rounds.

Fernando Alonso (P3)

“It was fantastic and so good to be back on the podium. The whole team deserved it and I had to wait seven years since my last podium. I hope we don’t have to wait that long! We took a few risks with the one stop strategy, but it worked well. We had a solid pace and we did what we needed to hold on despite Perez’s return. 

Esteban did a great job helping us get this result and our saves were great, so kudos to the whole team. I love this track and the car has been amazing all weekend so I can’t wait to come back. 

There was also quite a bit of action and overtaking, which we weren’t sure about before coming. In the end, it’s a perfect weekend, we scored a lot of points in the Constructors’ Championship and we now have a good advantage over Alpha Tauri going into the last two races. “

Esteban Ocon (P5)

“It was a great race on our side today and I’m very happy to finish fifth having started ninth. I managed to pass Carlos [Sainz] and Yuki [Tsunoda] after a good start. I tried to reciprocate Fernando for Budapest. I asked the team if they needed me to defend against Perez. 

He was on new tires and it was not easy, but I did my best. This result is a bit like a victory for us. It was a fantastic effort, the credit goes to each member of the team and these twenty-five points gained on Alpha Tauri put us in a very good position before the last two races of the year! “

Laurent Rossi, CEO of Alpine

“What a fantastic team result! First of all, a huge congratulations to Fernando for his podium. It’s his first since coming back to the team and I have to say he really deserves it given his season. We knew that a big opportunity would arise today with the penalties hitting cars around us on the grid and putting us in a great position. 

From then on, it was up to him at the wheel to get into the game, the team to execute the right strategy with the right decisions at the right times and the pit team to make a perfect save. All the pieces of the puzzle came together and the end result is deserved with our second podium of the season. 

We must not forget the equally brilliant performance of Esteban to finish fifth. He also had a superb start putting him in an excellent position to score points. He took advantage of the two-stop strategy of other competitors, but kept his cool despite some late return to take an extremely valuable ten points. 

With the points scored today, we extend our lead over Alpha Tauri for fifth place to twenty-five points with two innings to go. While this is a great advantage, we are not going to rest on our laurels. We still have two races to go and, as we have seen, anything can happen in Formula 1.

We will look to build on our posted consistency this season – with points from eighteen of the twenty races – to seal our fifth position by the end of the year. ”