Gasly credits Alpine progress after Baku double Q3, heads into Azerbaijan Grand Prix in P7

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

Pierre Gasly believes Alpine took a meaningful step forward in Azerbaijan Grand Prix Qualifying despite yellow-flag disruption during his runs at the Baku City Circuit. After progressing to Q3, Gasly said he felt there was “even more” available without the disruption, adding he has “good confidence” in Alpine’s potential for the race.

Gasly’s best qualifying effort placed him as high as P6 before he settled on P7. The French driver framed the session as a productive baseline for the team’s “balance” work, and pointed to the impact of compromised runs in the final stages, where people went off ahead of him. He also noted that while other cars may have more pace, he felt particularly strong in Baku in terms of car balance and ability to work the machine through the lap, setting up Alpine for points on Sunday.

Alpine’s Q3 presence continued with Franco Colapinto, who also advanced to the final stage. Colapinto finished P10 after what the team described as an unrepresentative Q3 lap, following a lock-up at Turn 15. The Argentine said the session still offers improvement, citing a lack of pace and describing “really big vibrations for the last lap” in Q3, and he added that he will try to fight during the race.

The qualifying result arrives with Alpine engaged in its “best of the rest” battle against Racing Bulls. With Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad set to start outside the top 10 for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Alpine sees the weekend as an opportunity to close the nine-point gap in the fight.