Alpine F1 Team leaves the Mexico City Grand Prix with two more units to its name, after a fierce struggle, having seen Fernando Alonso take ninth place under the eyes of the Mexican crowd in full fervor.
After a somewhat sluggish start to the weekend on the part of the Alpine F1 Team, the French team entered the points again, after a disappointment in Austin.
Alpine again in points in Mexico
The team’s objective was to finish in the points and this was made almost impossible after a chaotic start punctuated by numerous incidents. Esteban was hit on both sides of the No. 31 A521 after the first corner, while Fernando had to perform emergency maneuvers to avoid the cars stopped in the next curve.
The two drivers came out of these first exchanges unscathed and Fernando was twelfth, as when the lights were out, two positions ahead of Esteban, after the brief intervention of the safety car. After the restart, Esteban’s impressive progress in the first round was defeated by a slight collision with Nicholas Latifi relegating him to sixteenth place.
However, the Alpine duo continued to overtake. Fernando first erased Nikita Mazepin in the pit straight, then George Russell at the fourth corner a few laps later, to enter the top 10. Esteban successfully imitated him by passing Nicholas Latifi and Nikita Mazepin to settle in the top 10. thirteenth row.
Esteban was one of the first to stop to put on new hard tires on lap 14 to cover the first pit stop for Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. At the same time, Fernando posted a sustained pace to follow the leading peloton and waited for the 41st lap to pass new hard compounds.
The Spaniard returned to the track in tenth position and was quickly promoted to ninth after the stop of Lando Norris. Despite the pressure from McLaren, Fernando held on to give the team two crucial points. For his part, Esteban could not regain ground and crossed the finish line in thirteenth place. This result allows Alpine F1 Team to remain fifth in the Manufacturers’ Championship with 106 units and to overtake Alpha Tauri thanks to their victory in Hungary.
Esteban Ocon
The race was going to be tough starting from the back of the grid after our engine penalty, so we can be happy to have gained six positions today. I’m happy with my race and the way we fought, even with no points to reward us. The start was tough and we were lucky enough to get out without too much damage after contacting two cars at the first corner.
I tried to avoid it, but there wasn’t much more I could do. After that we had some great battles to get back into the peloton and it was fun. It’s good for the team to see Fernando take important points for the championship. We are already focusing on next week where we will both be aiming for points.
© Alpine F1 Team – Esteban Ocon
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Fernando Alonso
I am happy with our well executed race. Finishing ninth with points after our difficult Saturday is a good result. I wasn’t proud of myself yesterday, but I am today. The start was quite chaotic and I had to dodge a few cars in the first corners. It barely passed, but we managed to avoid damage before gaining a few positions after the safety car.
It’s good to see that our car can fight for points on a consistent basis, even starting further down the grid. We gave up some ground against Alpha Tauri in the battle for fifth place, but I hope that my points gained today will help the team at the end of the season.
© Alpine F1 Team – Fernando Alonso
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