FIRST TRIP DOWN UNDER FOR BWT ALPINE F1 TEAM

Drivers Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso and Reserve Driver Oscar Piastri share their thoughts on the third race of the season at the Albert Park Circuit.

To learn more about some of the team behind the scenes at Enstone and Viry, please click on the links below to the full preview.

It’s going to be a big old week, that’s for sure! Obviously, this is the first time back for the Australian Grand Prix in the last couple of years. It’s going to be a massive crowd and a big event, which I’m looking forward. Being able to see my family on top of everything else going on; it’s very special for me. I don’t know how much quicker the lap times will be but I’ve driven the circuit on the simulator and it’s significantly quicker. The back section where they’ve removed the chicane, it’s now basically a massive straight leading into the right hander. There could be some interesting overtaking moves into there and cars side by side at very high speeds.

Oscar Piastri

For sure it has been a very positive start for me. The more I drive the new car, the more I understand it and I think as a team we are moving in the right direction. We are showing we are competitive early on and that’s a good sign for everyone. Last time we were in Australia we left under very bizarre circumstances and the world has changed in many ways since. I’ve personally always enjoyed racing there and the atmosphere is always great. I think that despite the distance, everyone genuinely enjoys going back. Melbourne is such a cool city and I am glad we can finally return and hopefully we can put on a good show for the passionate Aussie fans.

Esteban Ocon

I like the track and whilst it’s quite difficult to overtake the changes have been made to encourage this, so we’ll see how it all plays out. We deserve to be much higher in the standings after two races. Our car has been good and the performance has also been good over the weekends. Last weekend was a disappointment as we looked comfortable and set for sixth position until we had our retirement. It was frustrating but we can be pleased with our overall pace so far. Sundays is where the points are scored so we just need to make sure we score points then. The whole team is working hard to make sure we keep on top of our development. We had some fair and exciting racing in Saudi and also in Bahrain.

Fernando Alonso

2022 Australian Grand Prix Factfile:

2022 marks the return of the Australian Grand Prix to the calendar for the first time in three years. The latest track changes are thought to reduce qualifying times by as much as five seconds.

Esteban Ocon’s sixth place finish in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was his best result so far this season.

Back in 2006, Fernando Alonso drove from third on the grid to win the Australian Grand Prix.

Esteban scored points on his full-time Formula 1 debut at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix.

Fernando is 18 points away from scoring 2,000 career points in Formula 1. Only two other drivers have scored more than this (Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel).

Renault power has won eight times in Melbourne, the most recent coming in 2013.

Renault F1 Team won back to back Grands Prix in Australia in 2005 and 2006.

Australia is the only country in the world to eat both animals on their coat of arms as a 'local delicacy'.