BWT Alpine F1 Team will be aiming for an improved Sunday outing after a difficult Qualifying day in Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix where Pierre Gasly qualified twelfth and Esteban Ocon seventeenth.

 


Conditions were wet throughout the day on the Dutch coast, with three red flag stoppages in Free Practice 3 as a result of the slippery track surface. The weather stabilised ahead of Qualifying with Q1 and Q2 taking place under damp conditions.

 

 

Both drivers used one set of Intermediates in Q1 with Esteban exiting in seventeenth place and Pierre progressing in eighth place on a 1min 21.735secs. For Q2, Pierre ran two sets of Intermediates with his final lap time of 1min 20.128secs seeing him finish in twelfth, just under 0.1secs from tenth place.

 

 

72-lap Dutch Grand Prix begins at 15:00 local time.

 

 

Qualifying


Q1


Esteban, P17, 1:22.110secs; Pierre, P8, 1:21.735secs


Q2


Pierre, P12, 1:20.128secs

 

 

Esteban Ocon: “Unfortunately, it’s not been a good day for us today. It’s the first time I’ve been out in Q1 this season, so that is very disappointing. On track the conditions were tricky for everyone and on our side, we struggled in many areas, especially with general stability and in high-speed corners. We have some work to do to analyse what happened today and see what we can do to put ourselves in a stronger position in tomorrow’s race. I have started in lower positions before and came back to score points, so that remains the target and we will fight all the way to the end to make our way into the top ten and into the points.”

 

 

Pierre Gasly: “I think today could have been better and we’re starting outside the top ten for tomorrow with work to do ahead of us. Conditions were not easy out there on the damp track but still very enjoyable and a good challenge to drive. We will review what we could have done better today as there’s definitely a few small details that did not click, especially in Q2. As a team, we’ll keep working, keep digging and the aim is to score points tomorrow, which I’m sure we can achieve.”

 

 

Bruno Famin, Interim Team Principal: “It’s not been an easy afternoon for the team today with both cars starting out of place from our expectations on tomorrow’s grid. We certainly felt we had the pace for more but we have to deliver it better. We will review all the fine details for which we need to improve for next time. For tomorrow we will assess all our options on strategy with the target of giving both drivers the best chance to climb their way back towards the positions scoring points. It will not be an easy race but we will give it our all to come away with something from this race weekend.”