09/10/2022
NEWS STORY
BWT Alpine F1 Team scored 18 points from today's Japanese Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon fourth and Fernando Alonso seventh after a shortened race at a rain soaked Suzuka.
The team moves back into fourth place in the Constructors' Championship on 143 points.
Heavy rain hit Suzuka in the hour leading up to the race start with both drivers starting on Intermediate tyres. Esteban progressed to fourth after Carlos Sainz's lap one retirement with Fernando holding onto sixth. The race was then red-flagged due to the deteriorating conditions, which brought a lengthy delay.
The race resumed with both drivers on full Wets under the Safety Car before the rolling restart with 45 minutes - 28 laps - remaining to the chequered flag. Esteban was locked in a race long battle with Lewis Hamilton where his adroit defensive skills proved enough to hold off the seven-time world champion.
Fernando twice pitted for Intermediates as he looked to jump Sebastian Vettel to sixth place. Fernando overtook three cars after clawing back 22 seconds in six laps on his way to seventh before narrowly missing out on a photo finish - 0.011secs - with the German driver for sixth place.
Esteban Ocon: "To finish fourth is a fantastic result for us, especially in these conditions. It was a difficult start with the rain and poor visibility, so we had to be fully focused to get through the early stages. I'm glad we managed to race and reward the fans who have been so good in their support all weekend. Racing Lewis [Hamilton] is always a pleasure and I was having to drive while looking in my mirrors the whole time. Congratulations to Max for winning the world championship. He deserves it after dominating and driving brilliantly at every race. We leave Japan with a great haul of points, claiming back fourth in the Constructors' Championship."
Fernando Alonso: "It was a fun but very chaotic race today and I'm glad we managed to put on a show in the end for the fans. We scored some good points and I think we could have scored even more. It was a difficult race to manage with the wet conditions, safety cars and the red flag. There were also couple of incidents which I'm sure will be reviewed to improve for the future. Finally, congratulations to Max [Verstappen] on winning the Championship. Overall, it's very well deserved and hopefully next year he has more competition!"
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal: "It was certainly not an easy race across the board today with the challenging conditions bringing some very hard decisions for everyone. Firstly, I think it was great that we were able to have some racing today and repay the loyal Japanese fans who have been excellent all weekend. At one point it looked like there might not be any competitive laps due to the persistent rain, which meant poor visibility for the drivers on track. As a team, we can be pleased with our points collection from this race with Esteban delivering a fantastic result in fourth place after a supremely well managed race and Fernando in seventh to score 18 points. We've been strong all weekend here across every session, so we are deserving of the points we scored today and we move back into fourth in the Constructors' Championship. It's been a busy two weeks for the team across both Singapore and Japan and the hard work will continue as we look ahead to the next double header in Austin and Mexico in a fortnight. Congratulations to Max Verstappen on winning the title. He's been magnificent all season and a pleasure to watch."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Suzuka here.