Pierre Gasly helped Alpine score a point in the Sprint race with P8, but finished the Formula 1 Dutch GP qualifying session only in 11th. The team believes there was enough performance to place the Frenchman in the top ten.
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Gasly finished the Sprint in eighth, a result that ended a period without scoring and confirmed the good pace previously shown by Alpine. In the qualifying session, however, some inconsistent laps compromised his attempt to advance to Q3.
“It was a complicated session for me and we had a bit more difficulty compared to yesterday with little fuel,” Gasly acknowledged. The French driver stated that the pace to reach Q3 was there, with less than a tenth of a second separating Alpine from the goal, and highlighted that the team is still learning to explore the new component installed on the car.
Franco Colapinto, who finished P12 in the Sprint race and ended the qualifying session in 14th, assessed that he managed to extract the maximum from the car, despite not completing his last lap due to traffic: “I had already done a good lap, and it is positive that we were close to the Racing Bulls and Audi cars,” commented the Argentine, who also highlighted the improved car behavior after small adjustments made after the Sprint.
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Steve Nielsen, Alpine’s chief, described the day as one of mixed feelings. According to him, Gasly controlled the Sprint well and did not need to take risks, but the qualifying session left lap time on the table, especially in the first sector and after a run-off at turn 10 during Q2: “It was a matter of very small margins, as always in the midfield pack, and the car certainly had the pace to be in the top ten today,” he concluded.
For the race, Alpine hopes to take advantage of the performance shown before the qualifying session to return to the points zone. Gasly highlighted that the fight in the midfield should be tight, while Colapinto hopes to advance on the grid, even recognizing that dry conditions may make the task more difficult.
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