“There's more to come” fromAlpine

At the start of the 2023 season, Alpine remains the big variable on the board. The French garage was carrying out discreet pre-season tests. The first two Free Practice sessions in Bahrain for the opening race weekend of the season were promising, but less brilliant thanAston Martin and Fernando Alonso incisive. However, the objectives ofAlpine are clear: maintain its fourth place in the Manufacturers, and even reduce the gap with the leading trio... which, at the rate at which the AMR23 is completing laps, could become a quartet.

The two pilots Alpine ready for qualifying

But the two French pilots remain confident: “After intense pre-season testing, I am satisfied with how this first Friday of the season went, congratulates himself Esteban Ocon. We saw today that the car has improved in performance since testing and we have a clearer vision of the improvements to be made. Everything is moving in the right direction and we will discuss at length tonight how we can prepare ourselves to have strong qualifications for this first of the year. There is more to come from us and I feel ready. »

Same story with his teammate, the defector from the house Red Bull Pierre Gasly. The latter, who is making his debut in the stableenstone (United Kingdom), is “extremely satisfied” of his Friday: “We have completed a busy program and we now have a clear idea of ​​the settings in the conditions we expect for the rest of the weekend. I would say that we were much more comfortable in Free Practice 2 with good sensations behind the wheel. There's more to come from us and I can't wait for qualifying tomorrow. »

After a first session on Friday morning where the two pink cars focused on the long stints on medium tires, the simulations of fast laps only began at the start of Free Practice 2. A more important session because it offered a driver better assessment of track conditions for qualifying and racing. Gasly finished in 7th position in 1'31''475, when Ocon placed 11th.

“We are reasonably satisfied with our Friday”

“We are reasonably satisfied with our first Friday free practice of the season, adds Pat Fry, director of technology at Arrow. Our main objective was to continue to learn more about our car in conditions representative of what probably awaits us for the rest of the weekend. We spent a lot of time working on what we learned from last week and identifying a good direction for the settings to take. This will be very useful to us tomorrow and Sunday. » 

“Free Practice 1 was difficult in hot conditions, but I am happy with our improvements made for Free Practice 2, continues the British engineer, where ambient and track temperatures were significantly cooler. However, we still have work to do and we certainly have more to spare. Our developments worked in accordance with our expectations, so a big thank you to the whole team for their incessant efforts during the fortnight preceding this first race. »

Alpine seems to have other cards to lay on the table. Enough to compete with Aston Martin which seems to be propelling itself into the leading group, or with a team Mercedes perplexed? Response from the first qualifications of the 2023 campaign, at 16 p.m. (French time) this Saturday, to follow in live text on AUTOhebdo.

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