Esteban Ocon believes Alpine could have finished in the points had they not taken their grid penalty at Monza. After starting from 14th on the grid due to taking a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) which dropped him five places from his original qualifying position, Ocon managed to make his way up to 11th before the Safety Car finish. He believes points were on offer for the team, who didn't score any this weekend after Fernando Alonso retired with a water pressure problem on Lap 32. "Without the engine penalty we were going to finish in the points. That's no discussions, we have the car to do that," said Ocon speaking to media, including RacingNews365.com. "The pace hasn't been as quick as it was in Spa, but we clearly had the pace to finish with both cards in the points. "So now that the penalty is hopefully out out the way for us, we can focus on the performance and focus on getting the job done for the next races."
Taking penalty hit in Monza was done for Singapore
Ocon says the reason for taking the penalty for changing the ICE was done to ensure they didn't have to at the next race in Singapore, where qualifying is key to ensuring a good finish due to the limited overtaking possibilities. He added: "It's of course important to qualify where you want to qualify, especially in Singapore. "This is why we decided to take the penalty here and hopefully we can we can now focus on what matters." Alpine is just 18 points ahead of main rivals McLaren after their non-score in Monza, with Lando Norris salvaging six points for McLaren after finishing 7th.
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