Esteban Ocon, from P20 to four points for his first Grand Prix in Miami
After a difficult start to the weekend that had deprived him of participating in the qualifications and condemned him to start last on the grid, Esteban Ocon made a superb comeback. The French driver eventually finished eighth and scored four points.
The weekend ended better than it had started for Esteban Ocon. After suffering a major crash in Free Practice 3, the French driver was unable to participate in the qualifications and was consequently condemned to start in last place on the grid.
But the Alpine driver benefitted from a few strokes of luck. The two Aston Martin cars were forced to start from the pit lane due to a fuel temperature issue. This allowed Ocon to finish the first lap in 18th place, before overtaking Nicholas Latifi and taking advantage of Guyanyu Zhou’s early retirement to already be in 16th place by the end of the seventh lap.
Having started on hard tyres, the French driver aimed for a one-stop Grand Prix. Focused on his race pace, Esteban Ocon managed to preserve his tyres until the 41st lap, overtaking his rivals one by one as they pitted. After the safety car was deployed due to Norris’ crash, Ocon held onto eighth position, being the only driver in the top 10, alongside George Russell, who hadn’t made a pitstop yet.
Taking advantage of the safety car, Ocon then put on soft tires and restarted the race in tenth position. Passing Vettel while he was fighting with Schumacher, Ocon had a front-row seat to witness the collision between the two Germans after Michael’s son made a mistake. A stroke of luck for Alpine, which then took ninth place.
A position he held until the end of the Grand Prix, finishing just behind his teammate Fernando Alonso. But the Spanish driver, responsible for a collision with Gasly, received two 5-second penalties, resulting in him dropping out of the top 10 and giving Esteban Ocon the four points for eighth place.
« The points are there, it’s extremely pleasing. I am very happy to finish in the top 10. Considering where we started, it was no small feat, but we always have to set big goals, and that’s what we did today. Everything was perfect, from the strategy to the tire management. A big thank you to the team for fixing the car overnight, there was a lot of work to do.
» Esteban Ocon savored it, speaking on the microphone of Canal+.
A very impressive result for the French driver, who started last and now has 24 points after finishing in the top 8 four times out of five races. This shows Ocon’s great consistency, as he is currently outperforming his teammate Fernando Alonso (2 points), who has been unlucky in the beginning of the season and made mistakes in Miami.
