Pierre Gasly was undoubtedly the MVP of the qualifying session, bringing his Alpine to fourth place thanks to Antonelli’s penalty.
It was a qualifying session to remember for Alpine and Gasly, with the Frenchman clocking the fourth-fastest time and set to start today’s race from the second row, sandwiched between the two penalized Mercedes cars. On Flavio Briatore’s birthday, the former Red Bull driver decided to give him a special gift by placing the Alpine at the front of the grid—despite a rather difficult start to the season for the French team.
These were his comments at the end of qualifying: “It was a very good qualifying and something we really needed. I’m very happy with this result and with the performance from the whole team. I wasn’t too comfortable at the start of the session, as I had grip issues in Q1 and the car was sliding a lot. But from Q2 onwards, we were able to get the most out of the tyres and keep pushing harder and harder throughout the session. By the time I crossed the line on my final lap in Q3, I knew it was going to be a good one.” “.
On the race, he added: “Despite everything, it was a nice surprise to finish fifth, so close to the front group and pole position. The entire team did an exceptional job, and we all need to stay focused for tomorrow. There are some very fast cars behind us, so we’ll have to fight, knowing that our goal is to bring home some points.”
Photo: Alpine F1 Team.
