by VALERIO BARRETTA
Melbourne, Alpine at the bottom
The Australian Grand Prix also seems to have started in the wrong gear for the Alpine. The French team, which would like to redeem the defeat of 2023 and a terrible start to the season (with Pierre Gasly's car withdrawing after a few meters in Jeddah), once again found itself in the slums of the standings.
In both free practices in Melbourne on Friday, the A524 occupied 15th and 17th place: Gasly was better in the morning, Esteban Ocon was in front in the afternoon; the technical difficulties remain of a car on which work will also be done at night, as #31 promised.
Ocon's words
“Today was productive and it was nice to get out on track in front of full stands on Friday, as always happens to fans here in Melbourne“, commented Ocon. “The field is very small, as it tends to be at Albert Park, so it will be important to get the most out of the pack, as it could make the difference of a row or two on the grid. There are still some things we can improve for tomorrow and we will continue to work hard throughout the night to prepare for qualifying. Today it was interesting to test the softest tire in the pack – overall this is a low degradation circuit, so these changes could offer some different strategy options and opportunities“.
Gasly's words
“It's been a busy day for us here in Melbourne. In FP1 we had a couple of small problems with the car, which limited our session a bit“Gasly added. “We managed to resolve these before FP2, where the overall balance was good. We were probably faster on the medium and this means that we have to work on the soft, which we seemed to have more difficulty with. We have some work ahead of us to understand how to get the tires into the right window for qualifying. We know the situation we are in and we know it will be challenging, so we will continue to work hard to improve what we have in hand. Tire degradation seemed quite high, which could mean the race will be busier“.
#Australia #Ocon #work #car #night
