03/11/2023
NEWS STORY
BWT Alpine F1 Team qualified for Sunday's São Paulo Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon twelfth and Pierre Gasly thirteenth in Friday's afternoon Qualifying at Interlagos.
Only 0.005seconds split the two Alpine drivers in Q2 as focus turns to Saturday's Sprint Day - the final Sprint of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship - and to Sunday's Grand Prix with points on offer across both days.
Both drivers progressed through Q1 with Esteban improving on his third push lap to fourteenth place, while Pierre's second lap was good enough to advance to Q2. The Frenchman aborted his third push lap after a snap at Turn 2.
On two runs on new Soft tyres in Q2, Esteban's lap time of a 1min 10.562secs, was enough for twelfth with Pierre narrowly behind in thirteenth. Tomorrow's Sprint Shootout begins at 11:00 local time before the 24-lap Sprint Race at 15:30.
Esteban Ocon: "It's really great to be back driving here in Brazil and at such an iconic track in Interlagos. It's been a busy day with only one Practice session ahead of Qualifying, and it certainly felt like a quick turnaround. After going through Q1, we had a tough last run in Q2, just missing out in twelfth place. I do feel like we maximised everything today and that's all we had and I'm sure there will be opportunities in the race on Sunday. Now, our focus turns to Saturday and the Sprint where more points are up for grabs. We must take the learnings from today and apply them for the rest of the weekend. I'm sure there is more to come from us."
Pierre Gasly: "It's always disappointing to be out in Q2 but there is plenty still up for grabs this weekend. I lost some time on my second push lap in Q2, mainly due to an upshift issue, so that is something we need to investigate. It would have been close to reach Q3 so we will certainly assess what we can improve next time. In general, I would say we are lacking a little bit of pace here but we do have our eyes on Saturday and Sunday to score points, so I'm certainly looking forward to that. Tomorrow is the final Sprint of the year. We will aim to fix some small details ahead of the Shootout and then give it our all to come away with points in the Sprint Race."
Check out our Friday gallery from Interlagos City here.