Alpine drivers struggle at COTA: “There’s a lot of work to do” | United States Grand Prix. Alpine F1 drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto struggle for pace in the United States.

So far, it has been an underwhelming season for Alpine. With only 20 points scored in the championship, they sit at the bottom of the team standings. Over the last five races, the drivers have not managed to score a single point, and the trend appears set to continue in the United States.

In the Sprint race, Pierre Gasly finished in 10th place, unfortunately outside the points, while Franco Colapinto came home in 14th. In qualifying, both drivers managed to reach Q2 and will start the Grand Prix from 14th and 15th on the grid.

Driver comments

After getting out of the car, Pierre Gasly stated, “I think there was about a tenth and a half gap to 13th place. In the last corner during Q2, I struggled a lot and slid more than in Q1, losing a few tenths. I need to understand why—whether it was because we went too fast on the out lap or due to the wind—but overall my feeling in Q2 was worse.”

He added, “Overall, I think we knew it would be difficult to reach Q2, but we managed to get both cars through, so as a team it was a decent qualifying.”

Franco Colapinto commented, “Honestly, I didn’t have a good feeling. I am struggling a lot this weekend to find the right setup. I really needed those additional two practice sessions to get what I need in the car. We tried some things in qualifying, but they don’t always work. I’m simply having difficulty finding the consistency and stability I need, and I’m also lacking grip. So there’s a lot of work to do, and hopefully tomorrow we can do better.”

Alpine’s difficult period continues, and it seems unlikely they will be able to achieve significant improvements in the last five races to overturn this year’s results. Attention is now shifting to next season, with the possible contract renewal of the Argentine driver under consideration.