Partially positive weekend in Barcelona for Alpine, which secured a points finish for the second time this season in the Spanish Grand Prix. Once again, it was Pierre Gasly who reached this milestone, crossing the chequered flag in the same eighth position in which he had qualified.
Previously, the French driver had achieved the team’s only top-10 finish in Bahrain, where he secured seventh place. As a result, the former Red Bull driver remains the only Alpine racer to have scored points after nine rounds of the championship: “It was a more challenging Sunday for us, but all in all, scoring points is a good result,” he said. “It’s been a tough start to the season, with three rather difficult races in recent weeks, and we knew that as a team we needed to bounce back here in Barcelona after Monaco with some points. Qualifying was really good, but it seems we struggle more on Sundays.
We have a lot to review from the race because I was quite relieved to see the Safety Car towards the end, and the team did a great job making the right decision to give me clean air for a pit stop and put on fresh tyres. We did our best and I know that together, as a team, we will benefit from this. We need to keep working hard and really focus on improving some of our weaknesses ahead of Canada.”
On the other hand, Franco Colapinto’s performance was once again unconvincing. Starting from 19th on the grid due to a technical issue, the Argentine climbed to 15th by the end of the race. Team Principal Flavio Briatore expressed clear disappointment at the performance of Jack Doohan’s replacement: “Franco’s afternoon was always going to be tough starting from the back, and he had a disappointing race, not progressing as we had hoped. As a team, we need to regroup and give our best to get out of this position.”
“It was a disappointing afternoon and a difficult race,” Franco Colapinto admitted. “We had better pace than at the start of the weekend, which is a positive, but it’s a hard track for overtaking, so it was generally tough to manage and make progress. The tyres suffered in dirty air, which made things even harder. It shows how important track position is in the race, and I know there’s still a lot for me to improve in that area, especially when it comes to maximising the car’s potential on low fuel. I’m looking forward to continuing the hard work with the team in the coming days, and there’s still plenty to learn ahead of the Montréal race in a couple of weeks.”
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