Esteban Ocon was the fourth classified in the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix, which was his best result since the podium in Monaco in May. A strong result, especially considering that he started from a modest 16th place.
The Alpine driver did not hide his satisfaction in the interview with F1TV, stating: ‘It’s a fantastic feeling and I’m alive again after qualifying. […]. It was definitely a crazy race. We stayed away from the degradation and graining that everyone had and we managed to recover from 16th to fourth, so it’s simply fantastic. It’s been five or six races, since Singapore, where the planets didn’t align for us and finally turning things around, we had a wonderful result’.
Aiming to finish the season strong, Ocon also emphasized that he always maintained confidence, especially for the Las Vegas round: ‘I hope we can stay like this until the end of the season and finish on a high in Abu Dhabi. We never stopped believing, and I knew that this weekend would be very strong for us in terms of achieving things and putting the car where we wanted, and we were super strong with the tires’.
In the understanding of #31, despite the less good qualifying, it was a satisfactory round: ‘Unfortunately, we saw what happened in qualifying [with Max Verstappen] and that’s why we couldn’t qualify so well. The track was good for overtaking, so we could use our straight-line pace to overtake, and that’s what we did. What the team did this weekend is extraordinary in qualifying and in the race, and we can be proud of ourselves’.
