Franco Colapinto shines in Miami: “We turned a difficult situation around”. Franco Colapinto praised Alpine’s recovery after both drivers reached SQ3.

Double SQ3 appearance for Alpine as the team targets points in today’s Sprint race.

Fourth row start for the Argentine

Alpine emerged as the fifth strongest team on Friday in Miami, where both Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly managed to reach SQ3 in Sprint Qualifying. The Argentine driver secured a spot on the fourth row, finishing ahead of the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, while Pierre Gasly ended the session in tenth position. Below are their comments.

Franco Colapinto: “I’m happy with today’s result and with how we achieved it. We managed to turn things around starting from a difficult position, because it was quite tough and it took some time to understand how the car was behaving at the beginning of the day. We found improvements and eventually we felt a good rhythm, putting together strong laps and building speed and confidence in every session. That is especially important in a Sprint weekend, which can be tricky. It was also good to have the break at the end of the season to reset and start again, and today is a really positive result for the team, with both me and Pierre in SQ3 and with a set of Soft tyres saved for tomorrow. We worked well with the engineers during the break to understand where we can improve and we hope this is a sign that the hard work is paying off. The pace looks strong and we hope it continues tomorrow and for the rest of the weekend.”

Pierre Gasly: “I’m a bit disappointed with the final result today, because I felt the package had much more potential if we had a bit more time to solve some of the issues we found in free practice. I didn’t feel fully comfortable from the first lap onwards, there was something not working as it should. It looks like the wheels are sliding a lot, a problem we will definitely try to fix before tomorrow. That’s the nature of Sprint events, where we only have one free practice session to identify and solve issues before the first race of the weekend. However, the fact that both Franco and I are in SQ3 means it is a positive result for the team and something everyone should be happy about, especially because it shows we can be competitive on different circuits and that our package is fighting for points. That is our target this weekend and we will push hard to solve a few issues and try to move further up the order.”

In summary, Alpine’s strong showing in Miami Sprint Qualifying highlights the team’s successful recovery and technical adjustments, placing both drivers in prime positions to fight for points in the upcoming sessions.