Podium finish for Pierre and tenth for Esteban to secure double points finish in Zandvoort

In a rain-affected race with multiple pit-stops and a red flag delay six laps to the end, Pierre kept his cool throughout to claim his first podium for the team and the fourth of his Formula 1 career.

Running in fourth at the restart, Pierre held on to the back of Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez until the chequered flag, promoting him to third place with Perez handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Esteban put in a solid drive in difficult conditions progressing up the order from sixteenth on the grid to clinch the final point in tenth place, capping off a positive day for the team.

Race

Esteban started on New Softs (L2 pit-stop for Intermediates, L11 pit-stop for New Softs, L43 pit-stop for New Softs, Lap 63 for Full Wets, L66 change to Intermediates under a red flag); Fastest Lap: 1:14.441

Pierre started on New Softs (L1 pit-stop for Intermediates, L12 pit-stop for New Softs, L46 pit-stop for New Softs, L60 for Intermediates, L66 change to Intermediates under a red flag); Fastest Lap: 1:14.570

Esteban Ocon, started P16, finished P10: First of all, congratulations to Pierre and the whole team for today’s great result. Overall, we can be happy with our race as a team, leaving Zandvoort with double points and the podium. On my side, it was a solid recovery drive from where we started, fighting my way to well within the points. We will definitely need to review a few things as there were some opportunities missed which cost us some positions and some points. Generally, there will be many learnings from the last few days which I hope we can take to Monza next week to keep improving as a team.

Pierre Gasly, started P12, finished P3: What a race! It feels really good to be on the podium here in Zandvoort and the entire team deserves this. After the season we have had so far, so many ups and downs, I do feel we deserve this result. It was an insane race, so much action, so many tough calls to make but everything went well, from the decision making to the strategy to the pit-stops, it was all very well executed. We had the unfortunate five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, but in the end that did not matter as we still had enough pace to put ourselves in contention for a good result. It was a tough final few laps with the conditions, but we managed it very well. Thanks to the entire team for his podium, and let’s keep up the hard work looking ahead to next weekend’s race in Monza; where I have fond memories!

Bruno Famin, Interim Team Principal: With the weather conditions today, it was important for the team to remain calm and make the right calls. Doing so allowed the drivers to advance up the order from their qualifying positions and bring home valuable points for the team. It was about being on the right tyre at the right time, as well as keeping the car on track and the drivers drove a very mature race. Operationally we executed the race extremely well and Pierre’s podium is a reward for the team’s efforts. Together with tenth for Esteban, it’s good to have both cars finishing in the points. We still have lots of work ahead of us and we will look capitalise on this result heading to the next race in Monza.