After good times in Bahrain, the first day of the season-opening weekend in Melbourne was particularly complicated for the Alpine team, which sits at the bottom of the hierarchy.
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During the first two free practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix, the Enstone team encountered several technical difficulties that disrupted their drivers’ preparation.
Pierre Gasly finished the day in sixteenth place and did not hide his frustration (photo above) after a series of mechanical problems that limited his running, including a premature stop during FP2 about twenty minutes before the checkered flag.
Complicated learning process
The Frenchman remained cautious in his statements, suggesting that the team had asked him not to go into detail regarding the issues encountered: “I can’t necessarily say too much about all the little problems we had in FP1, and also in FP2 where we had to stop 20 minutes before the end of the session. But yes, it was a very complicated day,” he explained.
Gasly admits that the team expected a learning phase with the arrival of the new regulations and the new engine, but not such a difficult day: “It’s the first day, we knew it was going to be complicated with the change in regulations and the new engine, but I didn’t expect all the issues we’ve had since this morning. There’s a lot of work to do, we need to find answers tonight, and very quickly.”
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What worries him most is that the difficulties observed in Melbourne seem different from those encountered during winter testing: “Everything is very different from what we saw in Bahrain and Barcelona. I was asked not to say too much, I’m not going to give details because it’s already been complicated enough, but we’ve seen that it’s more complicated than before with these battery and engine issues. We had very positive tests and it was complicated today, but I have confidence in the team.”
No better for Colapinto
The day was not much simpler for his teammate Franco Colapinto, who finished eighteenth in free practice. However, the Argentine was able to accumulate more laps and is trying to focus on the positive aspects of this first day: “Our start to the weekend in Melbourne hasn’t been the easiest, but I’m sure we’ve learned enough today to improve our performance tomorrow,” he declared.
Colapinto emphasizes that these difficulties remain relatively normal in the context of new regulations and with an entirely new car to understand: “It’s only practice and we’ve already identified several key points to correct and many aspects on which to progress, and I’m convinced we can do it by tomorrow. These challenges were predictable, especially on a circuit as atypical as Albert Park with an entirely new car and new systems to understand.”
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