Alpine fails to qualify for Q3 at Imola
For the second time this season, both Alpines made it through to Q1. Pierre Gasly even had the chance to reach Q3, but traffic at the end of the circuit distracted him.
There is progress at Alpine. The new developments introduced in Miami seem to be working. Both French cars made it through Q1 during the American weekend. This performance was repeated on their return to Europe, in Imola.
In Emilia-Romagna, the two single-seaters even had the opportunity to make it to Q3. But Esteban Ocon’s car lacked a bit of performance. « The pack was very tight, even tighter than usual on this short circuit, but our final attempt ultimately wasn’t enough to get into Q3. We need to understand why we can’t make the same performance leap as the other teams between Q1 and Q2, and we will continue to further analyze this issue », Esteban Ocon believes.
On Pierre Gasly’s side, the speech is different. It’s much more positive. Even though he finishes in 15th place, three places behind his teammate, the Norman thinks he had the potential to go much further. The first two sectors of his final attempt were very convincing. But the traffic, in the last corners, seemed to disturb him.
« This especially distracted me from my trajectory and potentially cost me time and positions. There is obviously a bit of frustration at not being able to put everything together in Q2, especially since we were so close to reaching Q3, like in Miami », he says, enthusiastic.
After scoring a point in Miami, Alpine is getting closer to the Top 10 race by race, but the performance gap with the midfield is still significant.
