Alpine still struggling: drivers share their thoughts after F1 Mexican GP qualifying. Alpine continues to face challenges as both drivers struggle in qualifying.

The difficulties within Alpine have been evident throughout the entire weekend, with both drivers fighting for the last positions in every free practice session. Qualifying proved no different, as on Sunday Pierre Gasly will start from 18th on the grid, while Franco Colapinto will take the 20th spot.

Drivers’ comments

Let’s see what the drivers had to say. Just after exiting the car, Pierre Gasly commented on the situation: “Considering the challenges we faced yesterday, it seems that today we managed to do better in at least reducing the gap to some competitors. In the end, we were just a few tenths away from reaching Q2. Since Friday, the car has been very difficult to drive. It slides a lot, lacks grip, and we are far from the desired pace. We knew it would be complicated here, so it’s nice to have made a small step forward and addressed some issues identified during testing. We know tomorrow will be tough. Something will need to happen ahead of us, but as always, we’ll do our best.”

His teammate, Franco Colapinto, on the other hand, had expected more from qualifying: “Considering the car’s behavior on Friday, I probably expected a little more during qualifying. We started the weekend well with good practice sessions, but we are struggling here, especially over bumps and curbs.”

The first free practice session actually went better for Franco Colapinto, who finished in ninth place. A remarkable result, if not for the fact that nine rookies from lower formulas or WEC were on track, including Arvid Lindblad, who achieved a better result than the Argentine driver, finishing sixth in Max Verstappen’s car.

Franco Colapinto added: “I tried to improve on my last lap but hit a curb. This unsettled the car and prevented me from improving my time. We have to use fairly stiff setups to get the most out of the car, which makes it difficult to put in consistent laps, especially on this circuit. Yesterday, with more fuel on board, the car behaved better and our times seemed more competitive. It will be tough from where we are starting, but we will fight and do our best to gain positions tomorrow.” – the Argentine driver pointed out on Saturday.

Alpine’s hopes of scoring points in these final races are increasingly slim, and among the drivers, particularly Pierre Gasly, there seems to be a sense of resignation regarding this season.