2023-11-05 03:52:39
The drivers of the French team on the grid have shared their opinions and points of view at the end of the first day of the Brazilian GP. The French duo on the grid were trapped in the peloton and did not meet their objectives in terms of results. The BWT Alpine F1 team qualified for Sunday’s São Paulo Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon twelfth and Pierre Gasly thirteenth in Friday afternoon qualifying at Interlagos. Just 0.005 seconds separated the two Alpine drivers in Q2 as attention turns to Saturday’s Sprint Day, the final sprint of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, and Sunday’s Grand Prix, with points on offer for both days.
Both drivers advanced through Q1 with Esteban improving on his third push lap to fourteenth place, while Pierre’s second lap was good enough to advance to Q2. The Frenchman aborted his third push lap after whiplash in Turn 2. In two runs on new soft tires in Q2, Esteban’s lap time of 1:10.562 was good enough for twelfth place, with Pierre well behind in the thirteenth. Tomorrow’s Sprint Shootout begins at 11:00 local time before the 24-lap Sprint race at 15:30.
Esteban Ocon, Alpine driver:
“It’s really great to be driving again here in Brazil and at such an iconic track like Interlagos. It’s been a busy day with only one practice session before qualifying, and it certainly felt like a quick turnaround. After going through Q1 “We had a tough last run in Q2, narrowly missing out on 12th place. I feel like we maximized everything today and that’s all we had and I’m sure there will be opportunities in Sunday’s race. Now, our focus is on the Saturday and the Sprint, where there are more points at stake. We must take the learnings from today and apply them throughout the rest of the weekend. I am sure there will be more to come from us.”
Pierre Gasly, Alpine driver:
“It’s always disappointing to be out in Q2, but there’s still a lot at stake this weekend. I lost some time on my second push lap in Q2, mainly due to an upshift issue, so that’s something that we need to investigate. It would have been close to making Q3, so we will surely evaluate what we can improve next time. Overall, I would say we are lacking a bit of pace here, but we have our sights set on Saturday and Sunday to to score points, so I’m looking forward to that. Tomorrow is the last Sprint of the year. We’ll try to fix some small details before the Shootout and then give it our all to get points in the Sprint race.”
#Esteban #Ocon #opportunities