Alpine F1 will start this Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix in a strong position on the starting grid, with both drivers in the top ten. Fernando Alonso qualified seventh and Esteban Ocon tenth in Saturday’s qualifying session, putting the team in a good position to challenge for points.
Despite not being able to match the pace of the front-runners, both Alonso and Ocon put in strong performances to secure their positions. Alonso will start seventh on the grid, with Ocon just behind him in tenth.
“We are delighted to have both our cars in the top ten today, especially as we have been able to make great improvements since Friday, through to this afternoon’s practice session and an important qualifying session,” explained Alpine’s principal Otmar Szafnauer.
“There was potential to be even higher on the grid than seventh and tenth, but we couldn’t complete the laps in Q3, which ended early with the red flag. Sometimes it happens like that and we will look at what we can do to make sure we maximise our performance potential in future races.”
Alonso is no stranger to success in Monaco, having won the race twice before, in 2006 and 2007. The Spaniard will be hoping to add another Monaco win to his tally this weekend, although without the rain previously forecast, he is highly unlikely of doing so from seventh on the grid.
Ocon, meanwhile, will be aiming to continue his strong start to the season and secure another good result in Monaco. The Frenchman has impressed so far this year, and he will be looking to build on his tenth place qualifying position come Sunday’s race.
“Fernando [Alonso] had a small outing with some damage sustained to his car. It’s quite minor,” continues Otmar,
“Especially compared to the size of the accidents around Monaco, so the car will be repaired and ready for tomorrow’s race. There is some uncertainty in the forecast, which we will keep an eye on. Whether it rains or not, we have put ourselves in a strong position to score points with both cars.”
With both cars in the top ten, Alpine F1 will be hoping for a strong points haul this weekend in Monaco. Sunday’s race is set to get underway at 14:10 local time (13:10 BST).
