Gasly Ocon Stun with Double Q3 at GP

Alpine F1 drivers Gasly and Ocon astound with unexpected double Q3 placements, igniting curiosity about their sudden success.

Pierre Gasly qualified seventh at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Alpine F1 driver outperformed a Red Bull and a McLaren, achieving the French team’s best qualifying result, with both cars reaching Q3 in Barcelona.

“I’m very pleased; this is our best qualifying of the year on a track where we didn’t expect to be competitive. There were positive signs yesterday with fourth place, and we confirmed that today in qualifying,” Gasly expressed with satisfaction.

“I was closer than I thought, surprised to see Lewis in third just a tenth and a half ahead of us. The gaps are really small, which is very motivating for the team, especially having both cars in Q3. We did better than expected, we need to understand why, but we’re very happy.”

Gasly has no idea why his car is performing better, revealing that its handling is still not ideal: “I wish I could give you the answer, but I don’t have it. I’m driving the car to its limit, and today, that limit was higher than usual.”

“I enjoyed driving but I wasn’t very comfortable; the car was challenging to set up, but it’s exciting to get closer to the starting lights. We’ve been seeing them from a distance since the start of the year, and it’s good to see them more closely now; we must continue to progress.”

Esteban Ocon will start alongside his teammate, after a ninth-place finish converted to eighth due to a penalty for Sergio Pérez: “It’s good, and unexpected to reach Q3 on a circuit where we thought we’d struggle to get past Q1.”

“But the opposite happened, it’s now a reality and a positive development. I’m happy that we managed to progress so much. We need to understand why it went so well, but we’ll see what it brings us tomorrow.”

Asked about his goals for the race, the French driver aims for the top 10: “Hopefully, the battle will be for points. We want to keep the other cars behind and maintain our position. But the race will be long with a lot of degradation, so we’re preparing.”