Ocon's Setback: Limited Laps Hinder Baku Performance

Amid challenges, Gasly secures an unexpected Q2 spot in Baku while Ocon grapples with minimal track time, impacting his performance.

Pierre Gasly advanced to Q2 in Baku, an outcome that the Alpine F1 driver admits was unexpected, given the French team’s apparent struggles. The Frenchman acknowledged his satisfaction with securing the 14th fastest time, though he remains unsure if he could have improved further.

“We were anticipating finishing 17th and 18th, but in the end, I managed to get through to Q2. I’m very pleased; I put everything together over two laps. In my second Q2 lap, I had a slightly slow gear change. It would have been close with Tsunoda, but we started far back and finished 1.1 seconds off pole on a challenging circuit for us. We did the best we could, but it’s very complicated,” Gasly told Canal+.

He hopes to aim for a slightly better position tomorrow: “During the long runs yesterday, it seemed a bit better than in the qualifying laps. The most important thing is to position ourselves for tomorrow, get a good start, and be in the right pack. It’s tough; some cars, like the Williams, are very fast, but we’ll give everything to be able to compete.”

Esteban Ocon hit the wall on his final fast lap of Q1 and will start 19th tomorrow due to Guanyu Zhou’s penalty. He explains that his lack of track time, following two mechanical issues, was a significant problem.

“I really haven’t done many laps over the weekend, so it’s tough to put in a decent lap in qualifying. With no practice in EL1 or EL3, I lack track time, couldn’t adjust the car, and it’s late to be pushing the limits,” Ocon stated.

“I did push, and I hit; usually, the tire doesn’t come off the rim, but this time it did, and that’s just how it is. It’s a weekend that’s not going well, and we need to do our utmost to recover. We’ve seen in the past that it’s possible, so we’ll try.”