Fernando Alonso was relegated from P8 to P11 at the finish line and out of the points for the fourth race in a row.
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Fernando Alonso’s winless record now stands at four races following two penalties in the Miami Grand Prix, with the Spaniard admitting fault for a collision with Pierre Gasly. While his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon was satisfied with a recovery from P18 to P8. In Miami, Alonso received two five-second penalties: the first for making contact with Gasly, which caused Gasly to crash into Lando Norris, and the second for running off track and gaining an advantage on the penultimate lap. He was relegated from P8 to P11 at the finish line and out of the points for the fourth race in a row.
Alonso quoted “Finally, we finished the race and that feels good, even though the luck is still avoiding us because that Safety Car in the end was in the perfect moment for the hard [tyre] starters [to pit] and we lost a couple of places there. One day it [luck] will be on our side,” he said, before the second penalty had been handed to him.
He adds “Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. Very aggressive at the start I made four places, I think and then very aggressive with Pierre, too aggressive I think because I made a mistake and I braked too late so I deserved the penalty, the five seconds. I had a slow pit stop, four seconds, so it seems we were always on the back foot.”
The penalty also meant that Williams’ Alex Albon moved from P10 to P9, giving him an extra point from the Miami GP. Alonso remains 16th in the standings on two points after the Miami GP.
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Fernando Alonso’s team partner Esteban Ocon managed to score points in P8, after starting 18th due to a crash in FP3 that saw him miss qualifying. Ocon mentioned in the team radio that Miami had been the hardest race he had ever driven. He was extremely pleased with the results as he believed that it was more than a mountain to climb. Ocon further applauded his team for building his car overnight after his crash in FP3. He was happy with the strategy calls, tyre management and all the radio chats as all the plans were perfectly executed.
The Frenchman further added “Pace of the car felt good. Especially at the end with the hard on the first stint we were catching most of the cars and the first of the other cars with the old tires. So that was really satisfying at the time.”
Alpine will travel to Spain, Alonso’s home race with 26 points, placing them sixth in the Championship standings behind Alfa Romeo and McLaren.
