CONFIDENCE BUILDING DAY IN MONACO AS BWT ALPINE F1 TEAM ENTER THE STREETS

26 May 2023

BWT Alpine F1 Team finished the day with Pierre Gasly ninth and Esteban Ocon tenth on the timesheets as the team and drivers built up confidence in Friday Practice for the 80th Monaco Grand Prix.

 

With new sidepods on the A523, amongst a handful of other updates to the package, both drivers set about Friday looking to provide data on the team’s new parts as well as bringing up speed gradually around the tight and twisty 3.337km armco laden circuit ahead of Saturday’s all important Qualifying session at 16:00 local time.

 

 

Free Practice 1

Esteban, P8, 1:14.585secs, 29 laps
Pierre, P14, 1:14.866secs, 30 laps

 

Free Practice 2

Esteban, P10, 1:13.162secs, 30 laps
Pierre, P9, 1:13.089secs, 28 laps

 

 

Esteban Ocon: “Driving here in Monaco is a very special experience; there’s really no place like it. On our side, I think it’s been a smooth day, where we’ve run through our programme, tried a few different things and, importantly, did not take any unnecessary risks. I think we have a few more things to go through and test to be really up to speed and ready for Qualifying tomorrow, so I’m sure Free Practice 3, for everybody, will be important. The car feels good, and we’re in a strong place looking ahead to the rest of the weekend.”

 

 

Pierre Gasly: “It’s always great to be here in Monaco and driving around this iconic Formula 1 circuit. It’s been a reasonably solid day for us with some upgrades on the car and it was good to build up an understanding on those and, in general, ease ourselves into the weekend. The car felt much improved between Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2, so I’m happy with our work today and we’re in decent shape looking ahead to the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow is Qualifying day, an exciting experience at this place, and we’ll be giving it our best to be up there on the grid.”

 

 

Matt Harman, Technical Director: “It’s been good to have a smooth Practice day today where we’ve been able to assess some new upgrades on the car including the new sidepod, which is a very good step from the previous version. It’s been equally important not to face any issues on Friday – just like in Miami – for us to learn and validate our new parts as well as gearing up for the rest of the weekend. Both drivers have been sharp today, bringing their speed and confidence up around this tough track in a sensible manner. We’ll keep looking to make improvements on set-up to be well placed ahead of tomorrow’s important Qualifying session.”