BWT Alpine F1 Team picked up one point from today’s Mexico City Grand Prix as Esteban Ocon recovered from the back of the pack to tenth place at the chequered flag at a raucous Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Pierre Gasly was in a race long fight for the points as he eventually finished in eleventh place.

 


The race was red flagged on lap 34 for Kevin Magnussen’s heavy hit into the wall at Turn 8, allowing Esteban to change tyres for the first time of the race from Hards to Mediums, which he managed to the end of the race, clinically passing Nico Hülkenberg into Turn 1, five laps from the end to snatch the final point.

 

 

Pierre made a strong start to move up to ninth place at the beginning of the race, pitting on lap 28 for Hards, just before the Safety Car on lap 33 for Magnussen’s off, before that incident was upgraded to a red flag. After clean getaways from the second standing start of the day, both drivers looked to chase down the points-paying positions. Eventually, Esteban overtook Hülkenberg on lap 66 into Turn 1, Pierre doing the same into Turn 12, with the pair crossing the line in tenth and eleventh.

 

 

The team looks ahead to next weekend’s final Sprint of the season at the São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos.

 

 

Race


Esteban started P15 on New Hards (L34 change to New Mediums under the red flag); Fastest Lap: 1:22.976
Pierre started from P11 on New Mediums (L28 pit-stop for New Hards);
Fastest Lap: 1:23.230

 

 

Esteban Ocon, started P15, finished P10: “A tricky weekend has ended on a positive note with a hard-fought top ten finish here in Mexico. On the post-race radio, I said ‘never give up’ and today was about that. Well done to the team on a well-managed race where there was a lot happening from start to finish. We did not have a great start to begin, losing a few places and I found myself running last for a while. It was a tough first half of the race and we took a risk on strategy and it paid off. The race restart was mega, where I gained a few places in the first couple of corners. From then on, we raced well and maximised our potential today with a tenth-place finish and a well-deserved point.”

 

 

Pierre Gasly, started P11, finished P11: “It was a tough afternoon for us today and it’s always disappointing to miss out on scoring points. I think we maximised everything that we had in our hands but, unfortunately, the timing of the Safety Car and Red Flag really cost us as we were well in the fight for at least ninth place after a good start and a decent first stint. I’m glad Kevin [Magnussen] is OK as that looked like a heavy impact for that incident. There are things we need to improve as, clearly, we were lacking in a few areas today. I’m looking forward to rounding off the triple header in Brazil next weekend. It’s a Sprint, so more points up for grabs, and it’s a place where I hold fond memories from my podium in 2019. I’m ready for it and targeting a much better performance.”

 

 

Bruno Famin, Interim Team Principal: “It’s been a challenging weekend for the team in Mexico City as we come away with one point, which is probably in line with what we could have achieved. It has highlighted some key areas for us to improve as it was evident we found it tough to race and overtake cars in front. Operationally, it’s been a good weekend and the whole team has shown togetherness and solid teamwork across the board. Next week we have the final Sprint of the season and we target a much-improved performance from both cars.”