Alpine intends to maintain "positive trend", says Bruno Famin
After scoring points with both cars, Alpine team boss Bruno Famin said that his team is intent on building on the positive trend that the French outfit has achieved in recent rounds.
Esteban Ocon started from an eye-catching P8, having opted for a set of used softs for the start. The Frenchman pitted twice, first on Lap 13 for a set of new mediums, and he then made another relatively early stop on Lap 37 for a set of new hards.
Having finished the race in P10, the one-time F1 winner took delight in Alpine's much stronger race pace at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“It was good to get both cars in the points for a second consecutive Grand Prix. It was a challenging race for us with car balance and some tricky stints but nevertheless we managed to bring the car home inside the top ten again and that’s satisfying.
"It was close with Nico [Hülkenberg] at the end but we were able to maintain pace and grab the final point on merit on track. We have things to analyse such as why the car felt harder to drive in race conditions as I was sliding quite a lot.
"Even so, we were much more competitive this weekend and we’ve come out of it with a good reward. We will aim to continue our points run in Austria next weekend where we have two opportunities to score points with the Sprint.”
His team-mate Pierre Gasly started from P7 on a set of used softs, and elected to execute a two-stop strategy.
With McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Red Bull's Sergio Perez starting from behind, he slipped down the order by two spots and finished in P9.
The Frenchman labelled his Spanish Grand Prix as the best race of the season, and stressed that the impressive result in Saturday’s qualifying session was key to the race result.
“That was our best race of the season so far as a team, so on that front, I am very happy with today. We had a strong Qualifying on Saturday, which set us up for a good result in ninth place today.
"We executed the race well with the two-stop strategy and managed each stint well. We almost had eighth place and only missed out on the last lap but I gave it my all.
"Even so, I’m happy with such a strong race where we battled two fast cars – the McLaren early on and then the Red Bull at the end – so that’s positive for us.
"We must understand why the package was strong here and take these learnings going forward. We are progressing in a good direction, that’s three points scoring finishes in a row, and we have to keep that going, " concluded Gasly.
Team boss Bruno Famin conceded that his team does not fully understand why its car, the A524 performed better despite failing to introduce any upgrades.
The Frenchman said that his team will need to investigate why the car behaved unexpectedly better which could help the Enstone-based squad develop the A524 and achieve a consistent performance.
“It’s pleasing to have again both cars in the points here in Spain and to score at the last three Grands Prix as a team. It’s a positive trend, which we must keep continuing.
"We were better at this track and we must analyse the reasons why in order to keep improving our overall package. The race was a tough two-stop for both cars.
"The two drivers did a good job, especially in tyre, energy, and fuel management. Next up is the Sprint weekend in Austria where we aim to continue our positive run inside the points, said Famin.
