Alpine F1 faced contrasting fortunes in Canada, with Pierre Gasly showing consistency while Franco Colapinto struggled to match his teammate’s pace.
Alpine F1’s first day in Canada met Pierre Gasly’s expectations — not exceptional, but far from poor.
Ninth fastest in FP1, the Frenchman placed 12th in FP2 yesterday.
“Overall, I think the situation on our side is fairly decent after Free Practice 1 and 2,” commented Gasly.
“I’m relatively satisfied, and we’ll see what we can do to improve certain areas. We know where we’re lacking, so we have specific areas to focus on.”
“Once again, the gaps are minimal, so every little detail will count, and it might take a touch of magic to make the difference between several qualifying positions.”
“We have the C6 compound here again, so we need to learn more about this tyre to maximise its performance. Above all, we need to try and get the best possible car, and our hard work with the engineers will continue ahead of the rest of the weekend.”
The situation is far more concerning for Franco Colapinto, once again significantly off the pace of his team leader — by a full second. He recorded the slowest time (18th) in FP2, with Stroll and Leclerc unable to set a lap.
“Free practice wasn’t the easiest, and I struggled in the slow corners. The car doesn’t feel as connected as we would like, and I’m still having trouble finding the balance. When I try to push the limits, the car either doesn’t respond or doesn’t inspire confidence.”
“That said, Friday is exactly for this — understanding what needs to change to improve the feel behind the wheel. The long run with a heavy fuel load turned out to be much more positive, and the car felt significantly better. We now need to understand why and manage to replicate that behaviour with low fuel.”
“I believe there’s enough potential to do a good job by putting all the pieces of the puzzle together on Saturday. In Spain, we managed to turn things around in a single day thanks to our changes, so the room for improvement clearly exists.”
