BWT Alpine’s Friday at the São Paulo Grand Prix delivered a top-10 result in Free Practice 1 for stand-in Gabriele Mini, while Franco Colapinto ran inside the top 10 in the opening session. Pierre Gasly, who handed his car to Mini for the morning, finished 14th in the only session he drove. The team says the pace is there and that the fight for Q3 looks very close.

A shared car in Free Practice 1

For the second race weekend in a row, Alpine put Gabriele Mini in Pierre Gasly’s car for the opening practice session. Mini set a 1min 12.569secs to finish seventh, just ahead of teammate Franco Colapinto in ninth on 1min 12.654secs.

Mini says he took lessons from his first outing with the team in Mexico City the previous weekend. His programme opened with aerodynamic testing before he switched to performance runs on Medium and then Soft tyres. “I began the programme with some aero testing which is important for the team with the useful data it provides,” he said. He felt Interlagos offered far more grip than the Mexican circuit: “It was very different to Mexico, I felt way more grip here and I was just building and improving lap after lap.”

Managing Director Steve Nielsen praised the young driver’s adaptation to a circuit that was new to him: “He adapted very quickly to a new track for him, and he did not put a foot wrong.”

Gasly frustrated by a messy FP2

Gasly got his first laps of the weekend in Free Practice 2 and ended up 14th on 1min 12.109secs. Colapinto was the quicker of the two Alpines, 11th with 1min 11.996secs.

Gasly put the result down to a scrappy Soft-tyre run rather than a lack of speed. “I do not think the leaderboard in Free Practice 2 reflects how I am feeling inside the car after that session,” he said, adding that “it was a bit messy our end on the Soft tyre and I locked up on my first push lap and then had to abort another, so there is definitely much more performance to quickly unlock and show.” He still sounded positive, noting that “a tenth of a second makes up four places or so.”

Nielsen admitted Gasly was not fully comfortable after missing the first session. He said “a few small changes to help car ride over some of the kerbs and bumps should help him.”

Resurfaced track and a rain threat

Colapinto called Friday a solid start in terms of competitiveness, though he still wants a better car balance. He noted that the circuit has been resurfaced: “The track here has been resurfaced and it feels okay in the dry, some of the usual bumps remain, but, of course, we have not yet driven in wet conditions.” With rain in the forecast, he said changing weather could become a factor later in the weekend.

What it means

All three drivers made the same point: the gaps in the midfield are tiny. That puts the overnight set-up work front and centre for Saturday. Colapinto said “the gaps to some of our rivals are very close, so it is important to maximise every detail,” while Nielsen set the goal for the weekend:

“We know we have the pace, and our target is to maximise what we have in our hands and, hopefully, by Sunday, return with both cars inside the points.”

Facts: Alpine’s Friday in São Paulo

  • Total laps: 132 (Gasly 37, Colapinto 67, Mini 28)
  • Total distance: 569 km (354 miles) – Gasly 159 km (99 miles), Colapinto 289 km (180 miles), Mini 121 km (75 miles)
  • Tyre compounds: Gasly C3, C5; Colapinto C3, C4, C5; Mini C4, C5
  • Free Practice 1: Mini P7 (1min 12.569secs), Colapinto P9 (1min 12.654secs)
  • Free Practice 2: Colapinto P11 (1min 11.996secs), Gasly P14 (1min 12.109secs)

Final practice and qualifying follow on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s São Paulo Grand Prix.

Source: media.alpinecars.com