Alpha Tauri – R01 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX – SUNDAY 05-07-2020

Pierre Gasly (AT01-04, Car 10)
Race: Pos. 7th
“It felt amazing to get back racing after such a long break and I think we started the season with a really exciting race. If someone had told us that we would have been P7 on Sunday we would have signed straight away, so I think we can be very happy with my result after a difficult start to the weekend. We knew the race was going to be a challenge because the Renaults, McLarens and Racing Points are very strong, but I had some good fights on track and managed to stay out of trouble until the end. It was a really good one for us today!”

Daniil Kvyat (AT01-03, Car 26)
Race: Pos. 12th
“The race was going really well for me until the contact with Ocon, I had a very good pace and fresher tyres. After the collision, my front wing and a suspension broke, I also had a puncture, so my race was over. This moment cost me a lot of points today, so it’s a real shame and very disappointing to finish the day like this. Today it could have been a very strong race for me.”

Jody Egginton (Technical Director)
“What an afternoon. Today’s race has been very action-packed and full of incidents. We have come away with some good points with one car, with the other car having the opportunity for a similar result but was not able to execute on this occasion. The entire team trackside and back at base performed really well today and the result is a credit to all of them. We have some work to do with our package to move it forward, but we have a good base car and there are some developments on the way, so are looking forwards to the next races. Overall, it’s been a good start to our life as Scuderia AlphaTauri in Austria.”

Franz Tost (Team Principal)
“First of all, I want to send a big thank you to Red Bull for making it possible to start the season here at the Red Bull Ring, a fantastic location in the Styrian region. We were also very lucky as we had good weather all weekend. Generally speaking, today’s race was very exciting with the deployment of quite a few safety cars which have helped the show. Pierre’s seventh-place finish was the best possible result we could have achieved, also considering that we started in 12th and 13th position on the grid. Both drivers did a really good job, together with the team, who operated very well and took the right decisions strategy-wise. Daniil could also have scored points today, but the collision with Ocon compromised his race due to a suspension failure, which we need to investigate now. The progress showed by the team, with steps forward in the general setup and relative performance from Friday’s sessions to the race, makes us look forward to next week’s Styrian Grand Prix, where we hope to be able to replicate today’s result or achieve an even better one.”

Toyoharu Tanabe (Honda F1 Technical Director)
“The first race of the season ended with three of our cars retiring, which is disappointing. So the only positive is that Gasly drove well to give AlphaTauri some points in their first race. For Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, Verstappen was going well from second on the grid, until he had to retire due to an electrical issue. Albon was very unlucky to lose second place in the last few laps, but he was still fighting for points until he also had to retire, due to a suspected PU electrical issue. At the moment, we are investigating the causes of the two failures. We stay here in Austria for the second round next weekend and in the limited time available we will analyse all our data and try and take countermeasures to ensure we perform more reliably in Round 2.”