by VALERIO BARRETTA
Alpine, slight recovery
On Saturday in Shanghai the Alpine showed some small steps forward also due to the updates that the team didn't have time to assimilate yesterday. Overall, for the Enstone team the Sprint and qualifying represented a healthy broth: Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly reached Q2 with the 13th and 15th time respectively, and the #31 was the protagonist of a good Sprint, in which he gained four positions. Of course, nothing transcendental, but these days there's something to be happy about.
Ocon's words
“It's our best starting position of the year and both cars got into Q2, so it's a satisfying session in that respect. It's a small step forward in performance, but not a negligible one“this is Ocon's comment.
“Looking at the times, there is still a big gap to make up compared to those ahead of us. Seeing how the tires behaved in the Sprint, the degradation was quite high but manageable, hopefully it will give us the chance to fight throughout the race and at the end of the stints. We will examine the strategic options available to us and try to make progress in tomorrow's Grand Prix“.
Gasly's words
“I'm happy to return to China after a long time, it's a truly unique track and it's nice to see all the fans in the stands. The Sprint race was quite eventful, but it was a solid result for us. We made some aggressive changes to the set-up ahead of qualifying and knew it would be a difficult session as it has been difficult for us to get into Q2 so far this season“Gasly added. “So I'm happy to have managed to put together a clean weekend up to this point, managing to make the most of the tires in every session. Tomorrow's race will be very interesting, especially in terms of tire degradation. We will continue to push hard and get the most out of the car tomorrow“.
#China #Alpine #smiles #good #day
