Alpine left the qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix with the feeling that they could have done more. The French team missed out on Q3 with both cars but will benefit from penalties to rivals and hopes to turn grid positions into points this Sunday.
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Pierre Gasly ended the session with the 12th best time, while Franco Colapinto was 13th. However, with penalties applied to other drivers, the duo will move up one position on the starting grid, lining up 10th and 11th, respectively.
Gasly took the opportunity to thank the mechanics for the work done after the damage his car suffered on Friday: “First of all, a big thank you to the team for fixing the car after what happened yesterday and for having everything ready on time for today’s race,” he said. The Frenchman also recalled that Lewis Hamilton faced a similar incident in TL3.
Despite this, the French driver made it clear that the result was below the target set by the team: “I’m not happy with P12, as Q3 is always our goal. However, this is the reality of where we are at the moment,” he said. According to Gasly, Alpine needs to find more performance to compete again with Racing Bulls and Audi.
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Colapinto also acknowledged that he expected a better result at Spa-Francorchamps: “We expected more in today’s qualifying session at Spa, but we will line up in P11 for tomorrow’s race,” he said. The Argentine explained that he lost some time on his final lap and admitted that the team still lacks pace compared to some direct competitors.
At the same time, Colapinto highlighted signs of progress since Silverstone: “It seems we have taken a small step in performance since Silverstone, which is positive,” he added.
Steve Nielsen, Alpine’s team principal, was straightforward in assessing the French team’s current situation: “This accurately reflects where our car’s performance is at the moment,” he said. He highlighted that Racing Bulls and Audi have found significant gains in recent races but believes Alpine can take advantage of the race circumstances to recover positions and score points at the Belgian GP.
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