Esteban Ocon was heartbroken to lose the podium in the final lap of the Saudi Arabian GP, and talked about how close it was towards the finish line.
Ocon was inches away from claiming his second podium this season. However, Valtteri Bottas pipped him to third place, beating him in a straight drag race to the finish line. The result meant that the Frenchman finished fourth.
While fourth is an excellent result for Alpine, it could have been better in hindsight. Ocon was heartbroken to lose the podium in the final lap,
“We gave it all in that race,” Ocon told the media in parc ferme, as quoted by f1i.com.
“The first two starts I gained four places. The competitor inside of me is disappointed to miss out on the podium by such a short distance.
“To lose that third place ten seconds from the line is very frustrating, but we’re fighting in a different league to Mercedes.”
Positive takeaways
“It’s a frustrating end, as we had that third place for the whole race, he continued.
“It was quite fun to start on pole position, too. I’ve not done that since 2015 in GP3. But I knew my race was not with Lewis and Max in front.
“I let them go and they did their own race. The aim was to keep third place, and we did so until far into the race. Next time.
“What we did achieve is outstanding, and to take fourth place and add 12 more points in the bag in the championship is what counts. We took the right decisions in the race; we did everything we could on track and on strategy at the right moments, which put us in the best possible position to take big points.
“The team did an amazing job, the car was spot on. I’m extremely proud of all the decisions we took, everything was mega, spot on, but it’s a difficult end,” he concluded.
Read more: Ocon happy to play wingman to Alonso in Qatar – “Slowed his rival down by three seconds”