Alpine F1 drivers Ocon and Gasly struggled in Monaco’s practice sessions, finishing 14th and 17th, foreshadowing a challenging weekend.
The Alpine F1 drivers had tempered their expectations even before the first practice sessions in Monaco.
For Esteban Ocon, 14th, dreaming of an A524 capable of achieving a podium like the A523 last year was out of the question. Today’s results prove him right; it will be very difficult to even consider reaching Q3 tomorrow.
“It’s great to be back in Monaco and to drive on this legendary circuit. It was an interesting day.”
“In Free Practice 1, the grip was quite tricky, and we had to build up speed lap by lap while trying to get as close to the rails as possible to improve our times. The second session seemed better since we made good progress. We managed to learn a lot.”
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I would say we are in a good position at this stage. We will continue our work before putting it all into practice in qualifying, where we aim for a good position tomorrow afternoon.”
Pierre Gasly had a very challenging day, being almost entirely deprived of the first hour of Free Practice due to a wastegate issue on his Renault engine. He was able to get back on track at the very end of Free Practice 1 and start his real work and confidence-building program during Free Practice 2, where he finished 17th.
“I had a complicated Free Practice 1 because of a problem with the car. We were able to fix it during the session, but it means we didn’t get much running time.”
“Free Practice 2 was mainly about getting a good feel for the car on this circuit and trying to push the limits as much as possible. I probably pushed too hard at times, but I felt quite comfortable behind the wheel, which is positive. My stint on soft tyres was a bit messy. I didn’t really manage to link the three sectors together, so there’s definitely more to learn and extract.”
“We will continue to work hard to fine-tune everything before tomorrow afternoon’s crucial qualifying session.”
Alpine F1 Faces Monaco Struggles. Alpine F1 Faces Monaco Struggles
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