Szafnauer furious: 'Both drivers let the team down'

Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer has hit out hard at both Alpine drivers after the disappointing sprint race. Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon collided twice, leading to damage to both cars.

Alpine did fine in qualifying, with places six and seven at the start of the sprint race. But during the sprint itself, things went wrong. Alonso had to make a pit stop for a new front wing after a collision with Ocon and was unable to keep up with the rest of the grid. Ocon himself sustained damage to his floor, slowly but surely sinking further back as well. In the end, the Alpines finished in seventeen and eighteen, with only the Williams cars behind them.

'We are working very hard for fourth place'

Team boss Szafnauer was not enamoured with the behaviour of his drivers. "Both drivers let the team down today," Szafnauer said, quoted by the NOS. "We are in a very close fight for fourth place in the World Constructors' Championship. More than a thousand employees of our team are working very hard for that. Esteban and Fernando then have to do better than this and avoid incidents on the track."

Alpine is currently just seven points ahead of rival McLaren in the battle for fourth place among constructors. McLaren has a considerably better starting position at the race. Lando Norris will start from spot six, Daniel Ricciardo from spot 11. Alpine will have to run a good race if the team wants to retain fourth place.