That was the story of two drivers at the season-opening Bahrain GP for Alpine. Esteban Ocon retired in the closing stages of the race after a series of penalties pushed him further down the grid. Pierre Gasly, on the other hand, broke into the top ten after starting from 20th.
But Sunday’s Saudi Grand Prix could be a whole different story for drivers and Alpine.
Both Gasly and Ocon headed into Sunday’s third qualifying session in a frenzy, including a 10-place grid relegation penalty for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who set the second fastest time, and once the dust settled, both of drivers have secured a spot in the top 10. Gasly started from 9th and Ocon from 6th to 3rd row.
“It was an intense qualifying session and a strong performance overall, so the whole team did a good job. Overall, I’m happy with seventh place today,” Ocon said in a statement to the media. SB Nation, After qualifying. “We will start sixth with Charles.” [Leclerc] Tomorrow we will only play from the third row. During qualifying, the car felt its strongest all weekend, and I’m happy to see that we’re improving day by day, session after session, and I think that’s a credit to the team.”
The team’s sporting director Alan Permain called the qualifying session an improvement over the first week of the season. It’s certainly satisfying to have the car reach Q3 and start from a competitive place on the grid for tomorrow’s race.“Esteban did a great job in a well-run session. We built lap by lap and delivered when we needed it in a very tight field divided by a small margin and it was important for Pierre to have a smooth session, especially after qualifying in Bahrain. We are now in contention for the strong points and I am happy with the pace of our long runs so far this season.”
Guthrie admitted he had mixed feelings about the session, as he thought there was more to get out of the A523. Still, the team is in good shape heading into Sunday. “After today’s qualifying, I have mixed feelings. I’m happy to have made it to Q3, but I still feel we fell a bit short of expectations today and we’re working on some more details to make sure we get the most out of the package. We have to work,” Guthrie said. “It’s great to have both cars in the top 10. Esteban deserves credit for doing a good job, which puts him in a strong position for a race where the goal is to score solid points. means that it is in
The trio believe Alpine will get solid results when the Jeddah street lights go out on Sunday night. “We will aim for a clean race tomorrow and try to bring both cars home in the points,” said Ocon. “It’s a long race where strategy matters and we’re all completely focused on a strong result.”
“A decent job today and we have to fix some small details. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve with both cars tomorrow,” added Permane.
Despite his mixed feelings about qualifying, Gasly appeared most optimistic when discussing Sunday. “Our race pace is good and we showed it in Bahrain and yesterday’s practice and I’m confident we can achieve double points,” Gasly said on Saturday night.
