F1 | Miami GP | Ocon: "Feels Great To Come Home With Points" After Starting P20 And Bringing Home P8
Esteban Ocon of Alpine Racing who started at the back of the pack P20 finishes P8 at the inaugural Miami GP.
Team Alpine Racing should be pleased with today's race after a good recovery leaving Miami with a double points finish after a disappointment in Imola weeks prior.
Inaugural #MiamiGP in the bag, and back to both cars in the points 👊
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) May 8, 2022
P8 Esteban
P9 Fernando pic.twitter.com/88Eqf1DLtO
Esteban Ocon deserves the credit for driving a great "come from behind" race from P20 to P8.
After seriously damaging his car following a final practice incident against the concrete barrier at turn 14, he was unable to qualify for the Miami Grand Prix. He rebounded to finish eighth, which he regarded as a "victory for us". Running long on hards paid dividends as a Safety Car allowed him to fight for points. A collision between Vettel and Schumacher also helped his cause.
Ocon says, “I do think there was clearly a mountain to climb for all of us. But I think from the strategy to the radio calls, the tyre management, everything was perfect today. He admitted he felt in poor shape after his crash, which registered an impact of 51G. To end up in the points being 50% physically as well for me feels like a win.”
In additional post-race comments, the Frenchman continued: "What a race!"
He adds, "A big thank you to the team for all the hard work overnight putting back together what was a pretty broken car after that big shunt in practice on Saturday. They are the real stars this weekend."
He continues, "For me, it feels great to come away with points after starting from the back of the grid and I’m definitely leaving happy after such a tough day yesterday. The car and the strategy were great, it was a well-managed race and we’re capping off an exhilarating first race weekend in Miami in style."
He concludes, "Now we need to keep that momentum as we head back to Europe for the next round.”
While Miami has proven to be a terrific event on and off the track. Now time to shift gears and look forward to a double European starting with Barcelona and Monaco to resume a point-scoring streak.
