Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly faltered in Q2 at Imola, highlighting Alpine F1’s ongoing challenges with their difficult-to-drive A524.
Esteban Ocon secured 12th place on the grid, matching Alpine F1’s best qualifying result of the season. The French driver is pleased with the progress towards the top 10 but acknowledges that there is still much work to be done.
“Q3 is not too far away but still far. We were just two-tenths off a Red Bull, which is positive, but the car is very difficult to drive. We made significant improvements between sessions, the guys were constantly working on the car,” Ocon explained.
“But it’s not well optimized, it’s complicated to drive, and difficult to put everything together, and we missed a bit. A circuit as bumpy as this doesn’t suit us perfectly, so it’s not too bad.”
“We need to be there to seize opportunities as we did in Miami. Fingers crossed, we won’t make any mistakes, but we’ve seen many, so we hope to stay out of trouble and take the opportunities that come.”
Gasly Made a ‘Mistake’ in Qualifying
Pierre Gasly seemed poised to achieve a time as good as or better than his teammate, but he made an error and missed a good opportunity. He was hindered by a Ferrari but still blames himself for the mistake.
“It was positive, I just didn’t do the job in the final lap. I had a good lap but made a mistake in the last two corners. I don’t know if it was Carlos or Charles inside, but it threw me off a bit,” Gasly noted.
“But I made a mistake and shouldn’t have, I’m sorry for the team because that lap would have put us close to Q3, so there is performance. I felt more comfortable than usual but I’m not happy.”
“We saw in F2 it was complicated, and on paper, it is too. We added more downforce, so we’re not fast on the straights, but I’m comfortable and anything can happen. It’s never over until the finish, and we’ll need to make up for it tomorrow.”
Alpine F1’s Q3 Hopes Dashed by Tricky A524. Alpine F1’s Q3 Hopes Dashed by Tricky A524
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