Alpine betting on Sunday race

The Saturday of the race weekend in Baku was unsuccessful for the Alpine team. In qualifying for the sprint, Pierre Gasly stopped fighting in the first session due to damage to the exhaust system.

In his teammate Esteban Okon’s car, the team decided to change the suspension settings, violating the “closed park” regime. As a result, Esteban will start from the pit lane in Sunday’s race.

Given the low starting positions, the Alpine riders did not qualify for points in the sprint. Pierre finished thirteenth and Esteban closed the list in eighteenth. The team expects to recover in the race.

Peter Gasley (13th): “It was important for us to have a clean sprint, given how difficult the weekend is for the team. In the morning I found myself falling behind in qualifying for the sprint due to problems with the car, but I’m glad I was able to sprint and gain back a few positions. We needed information – I think now we have ideas on what we can do in tomorrow’s race.

We will continue to work hard together to find solutions that increase our chances tomorrow. The car is fast on track and I’m looking forward to earning points at the end of such a tough weekend.”

Esteban Ocon (18th): “A difficult day for us, but there are also positive results. It was critical for us to change the settings for the sprint. It is a collective decision that had to be made to improve the chances this weekend.

Thanks to the new settings, the car drove much better during the day and we were able to collect useful information, which we unfortunately lacked this weekend.

Tomorrow I will start from the pit lane again, but anything can happen in Baku. We will do our best and try to take every opportunity that arises in the race.”

Alan PermainSports director: “Another disappointing day for the team in Baku, but we are focused on the points race tomorrow.

Unfortunately, just like yesterday, problems with the exhaust system prevented Pierre. As a result, he was unable to set a competitive time in qualifying for the sprint and we had to call him to the pits to avoid potential injury.

After Esteban fell out of contention in the second part, we decided to change his front and rear suspension settings to maximize his chances of scoring in the race. We learned a lot in the sprint and we already have some ideas for strategies to help two cars score.

This season we have already finished ninth in Bahrain after starting from last position and we aim to do something similar this weekend.”