Esteban O’Connor (Alpine) saw Valteri Bottas slip one tenth ahead of the podium: “hard to swallow”

It is contextual and everything is relative. Esteban O’Connor (Alpine) promised at Canal +’s microphone that “if you tell us we’ve going to be fourth in this race, we’ll take it.” But access to this innocence was followed by pre-accepted regret. Yes, he could complete the first Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in history on the podium. How could he think and say anything more when only one-tenth of a second escapes him in the final and Voltaire Bottas confronts the Mercedes?

His first “poll” since 2015!

“It’s hard to swallow this end of the race, of course, Leave the French man after shaking his head to empty this terrible despair. I was disappointed, we had this podium, we tore each other to get it. “Esteban O’Connor finished 9th on the race grid, having already finished second after a few turns. And after Mick Schumacher (Haas) crashed, Alpine decided to leave him on the track. 4th.”We made the right decisions during the race, on the track at the right time and in terms of strategy we gave everything. And it put us in the best position possible to score big points“.

The second start was still profitable for him as Louis Hamilton and Max Verstappen offered him two new positions and proudly ascended the throne in the second row behind Batavian. And here Ocon is in the lead for the third and final start of this crazy race. “Starting from a poll position was also fun, it didn’t happen to me from GP3 in 2015!, He mentioned in a press release from his team with pleasure.

Clever, the French did not compete with Verstappen or Hamilton. His opponent is Bottas. With the result we know, but not without resistance to many turns. He cursed this last straight line for a long time and within seconds of the last moment he saw it, Finn passed, thanking DRS for the benefit provided.

Is Alonso in his sights in Abu Dhabi?

“We are not fighting in the same league yet, it is coming. We are strong when we have the same speed as everyone else. We are in the process of putting it in place. We can be proud but it stung a bit“, He said again. This result is the second best in a row after his 5th place in Qatar. With 22 units in two races, the Hobbs have scored almost as many points (25 points) in the other 19 Grand Prix, apart from his victory in Hungary.

This shows that Alpine has advanced, finishing fifth in the Constructors’ Championship at the expense of Alpha Tory. “We can proudly lift our heads and leave. We are now heading to Abu Dhabi where we are ready to end the season most enthusiastically.“For him, it could fill the five points that separate him from Fernando Alonso in the drivers’ standings (77 vs. 72) and thus go head-to-head as a double world champion, or even take advantage of favorable conditions. The new leading position, he won his last pole in 2015.