Alpine complains about lack of speed

Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon reacted in depressing mood to the results of Friday’s practice sessions for the Italian Grand Prix. The Alpine drivers spoke of a serious lack of speed and admitted that it would not be easy for them to qualify for the second part of qualifying.

Pierre Gasly (18th): “The first practice was difficult, and in the second we tested different settings. The car looks good on the Medium tyres, but we couldn’t do well on the Soft tyres because of red flags and traffic. All this stopped me from doing a fast lap.

On Saturday the car should be faster, but as expected it is a difficult weekend for us. To compete with your opponents and reach the second part of qualifying, you have to do everything perfectly.

There is a lot of talk about the new curbs this weekend, but I see nothing wrong with them, although some say the old curbs were better. In some corners the old version was indeed better, but in other corners the new ones are better suited. A matter of habit, nothing more.

There was practically no need to change the pilot technique – the trajectory remained the same. The main difference is the new asphalt. Let’s see what the degradation of the tires will be during the race.”

Esteban Ocon (19th): “Difficult day. We worked hard to make the car faster, but since the beginning of the weekend we have problems. We tried a lot, appreciated the new products that have been brought to this stage, but there are still serious problems.

“We’ll continue working in the evening to do something tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll look better on Saturday, but at the moment it’s difficult. Let’s see what positions we end up in.”