08/07/2023
NEWS STORY
BWT Alpine F1 Team will line up for tomorrow's British Grand Prix with Pierre Gasly tenth and Esteban Ocon thirteenth on the grid after a challenging Qualifying at Silverstone.
The British weather played its part in a thrilling Qualifying session with rain a constant threat throughout the afternoon.
In the end, it remained dry, as Pierre made it his second Q3 appearance in a row to qualify in tenth place. Esteban missed out on the top ten by 0.174secs during a tight and frantic Q2.
Esteban Ocon: "It's been a frustrating day and a missed opportunity for us in Qualifying. It's always disappointing not to make Q3, especially as we had the pace to do so. The conditions were not easy but we had been managing it very well. In Q2, it was not an ideal start to my final push lap as I braked on the wet side of the track alongside Lance [Stroll] and then spent my lap behind Charles [Leclerc], which cost us time. There are plenty of things for us to review from today, however, I'm feeling ready to make up some ground in tomorrow's race."
Pierre Gasly: "That was a very challenging Qualifying to manage with the varying conditions. That said, when it is like that it's often very exciting on-track and it certainly was enjoyable at the wheel. While I'm pleased to be in Q3 again, I'm disappointed we weren't able to qualify any higher up than tenth place. We know the areas where we are lacking performance and we have to keep pushing hard as a team to find improvements to our package. Tomorrow, we will give it our all. The start of the race is going to be critical to make up some places and I'm confident we can come away with points on the board."
Alan Permane, Sporting Director: "We're all disappointed with today's Qualifying performance as the minimum target, as always for us, is to have both cars well inside Q3. The weather and conditions proved tricky and it was all about being on track at the right time. We managed that well on both sides of the garage to advance through Q1 where all drivers found significant lap time improvement after the first red flag. Esteban did not progress further than Q2 while Pierre was able to reach Q3. There was probably a small amount of lap time left on the table for Pierre in a very tight session. We have a lot of work ahead of us if we're to have both cars inside the top ten tomorrow. It's usually a long, tough race here and we have every confidence that we can have a strong afternoon."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Silverstone here.