Alpine arrives at the Formula 1 Chinese GP with the intention of evolving after a challenging start to the season in Melbourne. With the first Sprint race of the year scheduled for this coming weekend, Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto point out both the team’s progress and the challenges that still need to be overcome.
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“After a day to reflect, I leave Melbourne with mixed feelings, but overall, quite positive for Shanghai and the first Sprint of the year. We had to fight hard to score a point in tenth place in a really challenging but quite enjoyable race on Sunday. Since the start of the weekend, we have made a lot of progress and I believe this will continue as we learn to maximize the new car. There is still a lot to learn and some teams seem more advanced than others, so it was good to take steps forward from Friday practice to the race on Sunday, and have a small reward at the end,” Gasly stated.
“We know this is not enough and there are some key areas we need to focus on. We will continue pushing for more starting from Shanghai. The layout is interesting, with many high-speed corners and heavy braking zones. Let’s see what kind of racing it provides and I’m excited to give my best,” the French driver concluded.
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Colapinto, for his part, highlighted the lessons from Melbourne and the expectation for the Sprint race: “The race in Melbourne was difficult and it wasn’t how we wanted to start the year. We had a complicated task from the start, with the early penalty, but we all learned to stay united as a team in good times and bad. I managed to avoid what could have been a major accident at the start after Liam’s (Lawson from Racing Bulls) slow start, squeezing between him and the pit wall. It was a near miss, but I was happy to be able to react quickly and continue in the race. Seeing the replay still surprises me!” he added.
“After that, we had more insight into how the car behaves in race pace and saw potential compared to competitors. We are going to Shanghai as a team to build on this weekend. It’s hard to know what the track will be like with these cars, especially in the first Sprint race of the year, with only one hour of free practice on Friday to adapt. This will be a big challenge for all drivers and teams, requiring a lot of adaptability and focus from the start. I’m excited to see how it all unfolds,” he completed.
