In ‘This is what the teams think…’ F1Maximum focuses on the somewhat smaller teams in Formula 1: Alpine, Alfa Romeo, Haas, McLaren and Williams. Below you can read what the drivers of the respective teams have to say about their recent performance on the track.
Alpine
Although it is not a podium for Esteban Ocon like a week earlier, he is happy with another points finish. “We leave Barcelona with double points again, so I think we can be satisfied with our work this weekend. We ended up finishing eighth and I don’t think we could have done much more today as our race pace was perhaps a little lacking compared to our competitors who finished at the front. We will certainly look at how we can improve that, but overall it was a strong Saturday and a good Sunday for us.’
Pierre Gasly was happy with his point, but it is not enough and he wants more than that, especially after he showed in qualifying that he can compete well. “Another double points finish, but we always aim for more. On my side it’s frustrating after such a strong qualifying yesterday and also the fact that we showed good race pace today that allowed us to fight in the top six. Unfortunately the penalties and the bad start had a big impact on my race and we will see together what we can improve next time.’
McLaren
Lando Norris’s race was almost done after two corners. After contact with Lewis Hamilton, he suffered front wing damage and a race without incident meant he was barely able to get to the front after his stop. “Today we had a difficult afternoon. We just didn’t have the pace we had yesterday, which was more or less what we expected, so it was difficult for us. At the start I didn’t see the Red Bull go off the track, I misjudged how much the cars ahead of me would check and I just hit the front wing. It was the smallest touch, but it cost us a lot, although I don’t think we would have finished in the points anyway.”
Oscar Piastri also had a difficult afternoon in Barcelona. The rookie could not find the pace and was therefore unable to score any points. It was a disappointing afternoon. Our pace in qualifying didn’t translate to the race, so it was difficult. But it is important that we focus on the positives of Saturday’s qualifying result, where our one-lap pace looked very good. Now we just have to work on the race pace when we go to Canada in two weeks.’
Alfa Romeo
Valtteri Bottas soon lost a truly competitive race after he suffered damage. “We found damage to the floor, probably from debris we picked up at the start of the race, and that cost us a lot of performance: I just wasn’t up to the pace today, I wasn’t able to compete with anyone. fighting and it was quite a long race for me. I know we can put this race behind us and get back on track quickly before we head to Montreal in two weeks.”
The other side of the garage was a lot happier as Guanyu Zhou managed to take home points. “I had a good first lap and that was crucial to give us the chance to get something out of this race: our pace was strong, although there were times when we had to be sensible with our tires. At the end I knew I had the pace to catch Yuki: I had DRS, I was half a car ahead going into the corner, but I couldn’t get any room and I had no choice but to take the escape route to get in touch to avoid.’
Hare
It was anything but a happy day for Haas, Nico Hülkenberg experienced. ‘It was heavy. Unfortunately, the relegation was very high for us and we had to make three stops, while the competition did not. At first glance it looks like we are competitive over one lap, but in the long runs we still have some homework to do and some pace to find.’
Kevin Magnussen’s car also quickly wore the tires out from under the car. “It was a tough day in terms of tire management. At the start of each stint it was quite competitive compared to everyone else we were fighting, but our tires just fell off quickly and we had to stop three times, which wasn’t optimal. Hopefully we can learn what caused it to improve, but it was a tough race for sure.”
Williams
Sargeant chose to start from the pit lane, but he soon rejoined the rest of the field. Nevertheless, the American was colorless last. “Starting from the pit lane didn’t cost us too much, because we were at the back of the pack pretty quickly. The first two stints went pretty well and that was positive, but that last stint was difficult. We need to understand why it changed from stint to stint because I couldn’t find the pace or the grip.’
Albon finished sixteenth and did not have an easy race, but performed better than expected. “We fought and beat three cars on merit. If you consider where we were on Friday and Saturday, I am pleasantly surprised with how things went today. You don’t get prices for P16, but if there had been some rain we might have had something. This weekend showed that unfortunately we are struggling on real circuits like Barcelona and that we lack a bit of downforce. We will be getting some upgrades soon and hopefully once we have that improved performance we can fight more in the midfield like we did at the beginning of the year. Until then, it’s about getting the most out of the car we have.’
