Fernando Alonso thought fifth was a good result but he was greedy for more in F1 British GP, as Esteban Ocon retired with a fuel pump issue.
For Alonso and Ocon, it was a good and bad weekend in the F1 British GP. For the Spaniard, he took fifth place, his and Alpine’s best result so far in 2022 while the Frenchman suffered a retirement. That ended up being a blessing for the Spaniard as the safety car helped him eventually.
Alonso pipped Lando Norris in the pits as the two got on the train in the chase for the final podium spot. “It was really fun at the end and obviously we were not at the fight but we were just behind and saw all the action in front, we were P5 so I was hoping two cars maybe they touch each other and the podium was there for us but in the end they raced very hard but with a lot of respect so it was still fun to watch from behind,” he said.
The end stages was a high entertaining factor of the grand prix and as noted above, Alonso was able to pit under the safety car to gain a position on Norris which the Brit couldn’t get back. “It was good to overtake Lando at the end, as I said P5 is mega, but even then I have to say it is going to be P4 because I saw Charles moving three changes of direction on the back straight defending from Lewis,” he said.
“I did it once in Canada and I had five seconds on the last lap, so I guess three movements are not allowed.” A good weekend overall after a good qualifying too, seventh on the grid. The Alpine is fast and with half the season still to run, they should be a sharp end factor for the rest of 2022. What no doubt assisted was the upgrades introduced for Silverstone.
“I think the car was very good, let’s say compared to any other race I felt more competitive than ever, we were on the pace of Lando and maybe Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes we know they are untouchable at the moment,” said Alonso. “I think we were quite ahead of some of the midfield cars so definitely it was a step forward and Silverstone”.
“I know that maybe for McLaren it was one of the best circuits and even though I feel we were matching their pace so I expect the next couple of weekends to be quite strong for us,” summed up Alonso. On the other side, it wasn’t the best run for Ocon, who was eliminated in Q2 and he retired late on with a fuel pump issue, coupled with a collision with Alexander Albon at the initial start.
“The most important thing to take out of this race is that Zhou is OK after that massive crash,” said Ocon. “It happened right in front of me, and I was lucky to avoid most of it, but then I sustained damage on the right side of the car from contact with Alex. I have to say, the guys did an incredible job getting the car repaired and ready for the race restart, so thanks and well done to them”.
“We did well at the restart and the pace in the car was good. A fuel pump issue on lap 38 ended our race unfortunately and we had to retire the car. All in all, it wasn’t a smooth weekend with some of the car issues in Q2 and today during the race, so we’ll need to look into all of this closely. It was a weekend with a lot of learning and I’m happy for the team with the solid points from Fernando,” summed up Ocon.
All in all a disappointing day for the Frenchman, however he was happy being the team player and was delighted for his teammate to net their best result in 2022 so far. Not one to dwell on his own maladies, Ocon is already looking forward to racing at Austria.
Here’s McLaren on pitting late that helped Fernando Alonso
