Fernando takes strong fifth place after thrilling and incident-packed British Grand Prix

Fernando’s10 points today means the team closes the gap to fourth place in theConstructors’ Championship to six points.

Ared flag after an incident at Turn 1 on the opening lap brought almost aone-hour delay to the scheduled 52-lap race. Esteban was caught up in theincident – involving a handful of cars including Guanyu Zhou, Alexander Albonand George Russell – with damage sustained to the front-right corner of his A522.Esteban did well to nurse the car home during the red flag period, whichallowed the team to make the necessary repairs to his car during the delay.

Afterthe restart, Fernando, on Mediums, pushed ahead to put pressure on the McLarenof Lando Norris in fifth, while Esteban, on Softs, edged towards the top tenand into points-scoring contention. By lap 11, Fernando held sixth and Estebanseventh. Esteban pitted for Hards on lap 22, while Fernando remained out aimingto undercut Norris ahead. He pitted on lap 33 for Hards before Esteban’sretirement with a suspected fuel pump issue on the old start-finish straightbrought out the Safety Car.

Fernandocapitalised, pitting for Softs, leapfrogging Norris who left his stop one laplater. A seven-lap sprint to the finish between six cars and five differentteams ensued with Fernando well in the mix for a podium position. After athrilling jostle for position across a number of laps and a number of cars,Fernando settled for a deserved fifth place at the chequered flag.

EstebanOcon, started P15, DNF: “The most important thing to take out of this race isthat Zhou is OK after that massive crash. It happened right in front of me, andI was lucky to avoid most of it, but then I sustained damage on the right sideof the car from contact with Alex [Albon]. I have to say, the guys did anincredible job getting the car repaired and ready for the race restart, sothanks and well done to them. We did well at the restart and the pace in thecar was good. A fuel pump issue on lap 38 ended our race unfortunately and wehad to retire the car. All in all, it wasn’t a smooth weekend with some of thecar issues in Q2 and today during the race, so we’ll need to look into all ofthis closely. It was a weekend with a lot of learning and I’m happy for theteam with the solid points from Fernando today. Onto the next race in just afew days’ time.”

FernandoAlonso, started P7, finished P5: “It was a fun race today and we are happyto finish in fifth position. I was hoping there would be some drama at the end,and we might have sneaked a podium with all of the action, but it was fun to befighting amongst it inside the top five places. I think our final positionshould realistically be fourth because I saw Charles [Leclerc] weaving multipletimes in front of Lewis [Hamilton] and, compared to what happened to me inCanada, I guess it’s not allowed and should be a penalty. Looking back at the weekendas a whole, I think the car was very good and I felt more competitive than inany other races so far this season. We executed our race very well and showedconsistent pace. I’m expecting us to keep this up and hopefully maintain ourcompetitiveness again over the next few races. I must say congratulations toCarlos [Sainz] on his first win and, also, I’m glad Zhou is OK after hisincident at the start. It shows how far safety has come in modern Formula 1racing.”

OtmarSzafnauer, Team Principal: “First of all, it’s good news that the drivers involvedin the incident at the beginning of the race are OK. It’s testament to theextraordinary safety standards and implementation in Formula 1 that everyonewas OK after a quite frightening incident. From there, this afternoon, we’vewitnessed a quite brilliant Grand Prix, which, for Formula 1, is a great advertfor the exceptional entertainment of this sport. We’re very pleased withFernando’s fifth place. He drove a well measured race and credit to the teamfor the pit-stop under the Safety Car, which allowed him to importantly jumpLando [Norris] and fight at the front towards the end. On Esteban’s side, hetoo was driving superbly well after sustaining damage early on in the race. Theteam did a great job in repairing his car and then he put himself intocontention to score good points. Unfortunately, a suspected fuel pump issueforced him to retire, and we will get on top of these issues quickly in orderto ensure we achieve our goals. We leave here with ten points, a strong haul,and we’re looking forward to going to Austria this week ready to score doublepoints.”