28/10/2023
NEWS STORY
BWT Alpine F1 Team ran all three of its 2023 driver line-up today in Mexico City as Jack Doohan featured in an official Formula 1 Practice session for the third time of his career.
Australian Jack finished eighteenth in Free Practice 1 as he took over driving duties of Car #10 as part of the mandated rookie outings, adding his experience to three Free Practice sessions having driven for the team during the 2022 Mexico City and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix. Esteban Ocon finished ninth in the opening session and eighth in Free Practice 2 with Pierre Gasly sixteenth in his sole session of the day after handing the car to Jack in Free Practice 1 at the 4.3km Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Jack's session centred on a handful of test items for next year's car rather than outright lap time. His next session in the A523 will be in Abu Dhabi when he takes over Car #31 at the season finale. Tomorrow's Free Practice 3 begins at 11:30 before Qualifying at 15:00.
Esteban Ocon: "ˇUn placer estar de vuelta en Mexico! It was a very good Friday for us here at the Autódromo. We got through a very busy programme without issues and made good progress between the sessions. We are, of course, keeping our heads down, debriefing as a team, and focusing on how to best approach Qualifying tomorrow. We'll be working hard overnight to be in the best position to try and reach Q3 and put ourselves in a strong position ahead of Sunday's race. I feel good in the car, so let's see what we can do tomorrow."
Pierre Gasly: "It's great to be back in Mexico City and it's always a pretty incredible atmosphere all around the circuit here. I was in the garage in Free Practice 1 with Jack [Doohan] in the car as part of the rookie session regulations, so it was interesting to follow the session live from the garage with the engineers. It does mean we had to play catch-up in Free Practice 2, so it was important for us to have a productive session, which we did. There are a few things we need to look at to get the car in a better window and I'm sure we can make some improvements for tomorrow ahead of Free Practice 3 and Qualifying."
Jack Doohan: "It was a really good session and I felt very comfortable in the car right from my first lap. I was glad to contribute to the team's programme, which, on my side, focused on a couple of future test items. It was important to get through the session without any issues and tick all the boxes on our run list, which we were able to achieve trouble-free. I've been testing throughout the year in the 2021 car, so I definitely felt ready for today and it meant we could be right on it from the start. I'm very grateful to the team for the opportunity and for their trust and support both in the build-up ahead of the day and during the session itself. I'm now looking forward to seeing how the rest of the weekend unfolds for the team and offering my support where I can."
Check out our Friday gallery from Mexico City here.