During the Sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, held at the Shanghai circuit, Pierre Gasly delivered an encouraging performance by placing his Alpine in a fine seventh position.
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After a low-key first Grand Prix, Alpine turned things around this morning. In a session dominated by Mercedes, with pole position taken by George Russell, Gasly stood out by becoming the first driver behind the top teams.
The Frenchman notably finished ahead of Oliver Bearman and even Max Verstappen, who are usually at the front. Conversely, his teammate Franco Colapinto had a more complicated session, eliminated in SQ1.
The fourth best car
Satisfied with the performance, the Frenchman highlighted the progress made since the Australian Grand Prix: “It’s very, very positive. I’m happy, we managed to learn well since Melbourne to put the car in a good window. From the first laps, I felt comfortable.”
According to him, the team extracted the maximum from its current package: “It’s good to be in the right pack, the fourth best car. There is still a significant gap ahead, but I think we did a very good job. It was the best we could do with the car we have.”
“It’s encouraging to be more competitive here than in Melbourne, to comfortably make it into SQ3 and join the fight with the four top teams,” he said. “I feel good behind the wheel and there is clearly more potential than what we showed last time. We will try to continue this positive momentum tomorrow and see if we can bring points back to the team.”
This performance puts Gasly in an interesting position for the Sprint race, where he could play a key role behind the top teams. If the hierarchy is confirmed, Alpine could thus consolidate its status as the best outsider in the field behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and McLaren at the start of this season, but ahead of a Red Bull team that was a step behind in China.
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Colapinto must do better
Conversely, on the other side of the garage, Franco Colapinto’s underperformance raises questions.
“It was a complicated day and not the result we were hoping for in Sprint qualifying,” the Argentinian noted. “We didn’t manage to take the necessary step forward to challenge for a place in SQ3. Ultimately, we lacked pace today and we need to understand why. Pierre was fast and did an excellent job. It’s positive for the team, which is putting in a huge amount of effort, and it’s also encouraging to see that there is more potential in the car.”
“On my side, I need to better understand how to extract it and identify the areas where we can improve. We will try to learn as much as possible during the Sprint race, see if we can gain a few positions and put these lessons into practice for tomorrow’s qualifying.”
Mercedes is indeed a candidate
In a press conference this Friday, Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore confirmed that talks are underway between the investment fund Otro, which holds 24 % of the capital, and several potential buyers, including Mercedes.
While Toto Wolff is leading these negotiations for the star brand, it is on behalf of Mercedes-AMG F1 and not in a personal capacity. If this succeeds, Alpine’s engine supplier would thus officially become its partner, which is reassuring for the future.
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