24/03/2024
NEWS STORY
Esteban started from P15 on New Mediums, finished P16: Pit-Stops on Lap 9 for New Hards, Lap 16 for New Hards and Lap 42 for Used Hards. Fastest Lap: 1min 21.354secs. Pierre started from P17 on New Mediums, finished P13: Pit Stops on Lap 17 for New Hards and Lap 41 for New Hards. Fastest Lap: 1:21.090secs.
Esteban Ocon: "It was an unfortunate race today, as we had to make an extra stop to remove a tear-off stuck in the rear brake duct. Before the pit-stop I was running in a group with Alex [Albon] and Kevin [Magnussen], and in front of Nico [Hulkenberg]. Without that extra stop, we were probably in with a chance of scoring points looking at how the race unfolded. Today, and this weekend in general, the car felt a bit better and shows that we're making some progress. We need to take it step-by-step and keep pushing ahead of Japan, which is a race I'm really looking forward to, as it's one of my favourite tracks and the fans there make it extra special."
Pierre Gasly: "There is no satisfaction to take from today's result as finishing outside of the points is never where we intend to finish races. We made some progress, though, and we tried to maximise what we had and I'd say we did that today. I tried my best inside the car, it was a difficult race at times, but we stuck with it right to the end. We will all continue our collective hard work. We have some parts coming soon as we keep closing the gap to those ahead of us. It's been a busy week in Australia and I already look forward to racing in Suzuka, one of my favourites on the Formula 1 calendar."
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: "While we did not score points in today's race, we are making progressive steps forwards. There are many areas we must improve - and will improve - as it was far from a clean race for both cars today. That said, we probably maximised the result with what we could control. We must keep closing the gap to our rivals by chipping away in improving across all areas. Both drivers continue to work collaboratively with the team, so credit to them again for their very good efforts. The next race is Japan where we intend to continue showing progress."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Melbourne here.