Silverstone (United Kingdom) (AFP)
The Grand Prix which marks the 70th anniversary of F1 on Sunday was not very favorable to the French drivers and to Renault, only 8th place Esteban Ocon, who left far on the grid, managing to save the day.
. Renault: points for Ocon, disappointment for Ricciardo.
Ocon, who started 14th on the starting grid after suffering a three-place penalty, finished 8th after a tough race with a one-stop strategy to change tires. "It was a good Sunday. I got off to a good start, handled the tires well, got a lot of help from the team and made a good stop. I don't think we would have could do much better starting 14th. We now need to qualify better, we have the speed to do it, and we will thus gain more points ", affirmed the young French driver.
The results are much less brilliant for Daniel Ricciardo who had started 5th on the grid but could not do better than 14th after a spin in the race. "This is one of those days when things are going from bad to worse," said the Australian who will join McLaren next season. "Given his position on the grid, we were clearly expecting a better result," said Cyril Abiteboul, Team Principal of the French team.
. For Pierre Gasly, "a bit of a nightmare"
7th on the grid, 11th and out of points at the finish line, Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri-Honda) did not obtain the expected result either. "I got off to a good start and felt good with the tires so I was a bit surprised when I was asked to stop and change. When I got back to the track I found myself in the peloton and I had to push harder than I would have liked. Suddenly there were a lot of blisters on the tires and it was a bit of a nightmare. We have to see what we can improve on the plan of the strategy to get back in the points in Barcelona, "during the Spanish Grand Prix next weekend, added the Normand.
. Problem at the start for Romain Grosjean.
The French driver of the American team Haas, 13th on the grid after rather successful qualifying, has started badly. "I don't know what I did wrong, we'll have to watch. After that I had a good pace but since I was in the peloton I was losing a lot of downforce on the front and I couldn't not overtake. I asked to switch to a one stop strategy which was our + Plan B + but we didn't have time to do it. We also expected to have wear on the front tires But no blisters on the back. Our results don't show it but we had good speed and I know where we can improve, "said Grosjean, whose score is still blank in the championship after five races.
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