Alpine F1 Team was particularly fast for their part in Qatar. The team of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso picked up a good number of points with the Spaniard's podium and the Frenchman's P5. According to Ocon, the strategy was not all that decisive; the car was at its peak.
Alpine pulls ahead of AlphaTauri
Alpine suddenly made an exciting battle with AlphaTauri for P5 in the championship an almost runaway race. The former Renault team is ahead of the Red Bull sibling by 25 points. This difference in points is hard to overcome at this position in the field. You could say that the team AlphaTauri dealt a final blow in Qatar.
Alonso made it to the podium by beating Sergio Perez. He did so mainly because of the perfect execution of a strong but risky strategy. Teammate Ocon insists it wasn't just about strategy in Qatar. The Alpine felt good from the start in Losail.
Tricks helped Alpine
"The characteristics of the track suited our car well." begins Ocon facing Motorsport.com. "It was a good surprise when we put the car down and felt that the grip was there. But I don't think we only did well with the set-up, but we also found little things that we couldn't find in other races."
It was a perfect weekend for Ocon's garage, except for his last run during Q3. Ocon: "Little tricks here and there made the difference this weekend; we had more pace, we got more pace out of the car." It remains to be seen what the team will do in the final two races. Although the lead over AlphaTauri is fairly big, there is no certainty that P5 can be maintained.