Esteban Ocon (Alpine, 10th): “It’s good to score a point today and open our account this season. We had come close in the previous races, and we finally leave with a reward. The team deserves it given their efforts over the last few weeks. It was very intense from start to finish, with great battles throughout the event. We cannot be fully satisfied with the result, because it is only one point, but it is an important point for our campaign. It’s a credit to the team that they were able to maintain confidence and stay motivated to continue improving the car and move from the last row in Bahrain to where we are today. I hope this will be the first point of a long series this year.”
Pierre Gasly (Alpine, 12th): “We had a great race even if we narrowly missed the points. We had done everything necessary to achieve this. We had a good pace, we fought hard from the start to maintain our position, then we stopped early, as planned. The timing of the safety car didn’t work in my favor, but that’s how it is sometimes. From a team point of view, we scored our first point of the season and it’s the most important. Whether it’s me or Esteban doesn’t matter and I’m just very happy for the team today. It’s great for everyone’s motivation and confidence. We need much more to fight for higher places. We’re in the game, it’s been the best weekend of the season performance-wise, so it’s good to show our progress.”