In a circuit that does not play to the team’s strengths of its overall car package, and after a difficult Qualifying with both cars out in Q1 on Saturday, today’s race proved to be an uphill task for the team to salvage something for the weekend.
After an aborted start and short delay to the race due to Yuki Tsunoda’s formation lap retirement, both drivers looked to make gains on the opening lap; Esteban passing Pierre into Turn 3 to progress a position.
On a two-stop, Medium-Hard-Medium strategy, Pierre could not advance further than fifteenth at the chequered flag. Esteban attempted a one-stop Medium to Hard plan but retired from the race after some steering vibrations with the team opting to bring him in as a precaution.
The team remains in Monza for this week’s Pirelli Tyre Test – Esteban driving on Tuesday and Pierre on Wednesday - before focus switches to the Singapore Grand Prix in a fortnight’s time.
Esteban Ocon, started P18, DNF:
“A tough weekend for us with a tough ending. Unfortunately, we had to retire the car as a precaution after feeling some steering wheel lock early on in the race. It’s definitely been a big weekend of learning for us on what has been a difficult track since the first session on Friday. Now it’s time to really look into the reasons why we could not really perform here and then quickly move on to Singapore. I have no doubt we will come back stronger and return to points-scoring form.”
