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Saturday in China for BWT Alpine Formula One Team confirmed a trend already visible from Friday: over a single flying lap, the car has rediscovered a level of competitiveness it had not shown at the Australian Grand Prix.
At Shanghai International Circuit, Pierre Gasly carried that momentum into Grand Prix qualifying after the encouraging signs already seen in Sprint Qualifying, with another appearance in Q3 and seventh place on the grid. Between the two sessions, the morning Sprint served as a reminder that the raw pace is there, but that it remains more difficult to preserve once the tyres begin to degrade over a stint.
The day had nevertheless started in a more laborious fashion. The morning Sprint showed once again that the car remained sensitive as soon as the tyres began to move out of their ideal operating window. A few hours later, qualifying painted a much more encouraging picture: Pierre Gasly confirmed the competitiveness already seen the previous day, while Franco Colapinto came very close to a first Q3 appearance.
Sprint: Alpine holds the pace early on before gradually losing ground
At the start of the Sprint, Pierre Gasly lined up in seventh place on new medium tyres, a choice Alpine stood by while several direct rivals had opted for softs. The opening laps broadly validated that approach: the car stayed on the pace, well settled in the pack fighting for points, with decent traction through the long acceleration phases.
Pierre Gasly’s best lap, a 1:38.349, came as early as his fifth tour. At that point, the balance remained satisfactory and a top speed measured at more than 311 km/h on the long back straight still allowed him to defend his position properly.
The rest proved more complicated. From lap nine onwards, the front-left began to degrade significantly. Grip dropped away, front-end support became less precise, and Pierre Gasly quickly felt that the car was getting away from him more through the long corners. Over the radio, he reported that the front-left tyre was going off far too quickly.
The Safety Car intervention following Nico Hülkenberg’s stoppage created a strategic opportunity, with a switch to soft tyres for the closing laps. But Alpine never really found any extra margin on the restart. Pierre Gasly briefly passed Oliver Bearman before giving the position back again in the final hectometres. He finished eleventh, just outside the points.
Franco Colapinto, who started sixteenth, had a quieter but useful race. The Argentine climbed to fourteenth without any notable mistake, despite a few traction difficulties in sector two. His best lap, a 1:37.278, showed that he found more rhythm as the laps went by, even if the car still remained tricky to place under heavy load.
Qualifying: Pierre Gasly delivers again, Franco Colapinto misses Q3 by five thousandths
From Q1 onwards, Pierre Gasly settled into the session with a clean first lap in 1:33.788. In Q2, he improved significantly to 1:33.003 and moved comfortably into the top ten.
In Q3, his first lap of 1:33.112 already hinted at strong potential, before a perfectly constructed final attempt: 1:32.873, seventh place on the grid.
That lap carries weight. Pierre Gasly finished ahead of Max Verstappen as well as both Racing Bulls in a session where the margins remained extremely tight. Alpine also posted 312.4 km/h in top speed, one of the best figures on the grid behind the leading teams.
Above all, the car looked much easier to read over a single flying lap, with good mechanical stability and very clean energy deployment.
Franco Colapinto came close to joining his team-mate in Q3. His 1:33.357 in Q2 left him just five thousandths short of a place in the top ten. Up to the final sector, progression still looked possible before slight clipping on the exit of the last corner and then a wheel lock-up cost him just enough time to remain twelfth.
The result remains a solid one: Franco Colapinto finished ahead of both Williams Racing cars as well as both Audi F1 Team entries, proof that his pace continues to improve.
Saturday’s results for BWT Alpine Formula One Team
BWT Alpine Formula One Team offered two very different readings on Saturday: a Sprint in which tyre degradation progressively held back the team’s ambitions, followed by a far more convincing Grand Prix qualifying session, in keeping with the level already seen in Sprint Qualifying, with Pierre Gasly back in Q3 and Franco Colapinto just five thousandths away from the top ten.
| Session | Pierre Gasly | Franco Colapinto |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint | 11th – fastest lap: 1:38.349 | 14th – fastest lap: 1:37.278 |
| GP Qualifying | 7th – 1:32.873 | 12th – 1:33.357 |
A more credible platform ahead of the Grand Prix
Beyond the positions, this Saturday confirms that the car is making progress on a circuit where mechanical balance matters greatly. The rear suspension introduced at the start of the season seems to be starting to work better, and the Mercedes engine continues to offer interesting potential through the long deployment phases.
The question now is whether this level can be sustained over the full Grand Prix distance.
The Sprint showed that tyre degradation remains the real weak point. With Pierre Gasly seventh and Franco Colapinto twelfth, points remain within reach, but Sunday’s race will above all show whether this progress is already sustainable.
What they said
Pierre Gasly
“I am very happy with our qualifying performance today, with a second appearance in Q3 this weekend. I am delighted with the work done by the whole team and we seem to be heading in the right direction. Compared with last weekend, that makes me optimistic for the Grand Prix and the races to come.
We had a solid session this afternoon by improving on every lap, whereas the morning was more difficult with the Sprint, where we suffered heavy tyre degradation. This is something we need to work on if we want to battle with the cars around us tomorrow.
The gaps are small in the race as well as in qualifying and we are right in the heart of a very tight midfield. Every little detail counts and we hope to have the upper hand tomorrow to turn our progress into more points for the team.”
Franco Colapinto
“Compared with yesterday and the way we started the day with the Sprint race, I am much more optimistic about the car and the qualifying result. We could not change very much overnight under parc fermé and we encountered difficulties with clipping and graining during the Sprint.
We did not give up, however, and we worked hard together as a team to turn things around this afternoon. There were many things we did not understand about the car.
The work done last night with the engineers and the discussions with Pierre allowed us to make progress today. We changed many things and we know where we are still lacking. Naturally, we are a little disappointed to be so close to Q3.
I had a bit of clipping on the exit of the last corner and I locked up in a few places, so the time was clearly within our reach. We are close to the points, so I hope to make a good start, because everything is still to play for tomorrow.”
Steve Nielsen
“We started the weekend in much better shape than in Melbourne and, as can be seen across all teams, we are learning very quickly how to exploit the cars under the new regulations.
Unfortunately, Pierre was not able to make the most of his strong qualifying in the Sprint race, where Franco and he reported difficulties linked to clipping and graining. We are aware that we still have work to do to be more competitive on Sunday with more fuel on board.
We expected some of our rivals to close the gap today, so it was very positive to see Pierre repeat his solid performance with seventh place on the grid. Franco also took a step forward between the Sprint and qualifying, and he unfortunately just missed out on Q3.
He is sparing no effort and it is fantastic to see him working tirelessly with the engineers and learning from Pierre. Given the way the Sprint unfolded, we will need to work hard tonight to give ourselves the best possible chance of adding points to our tally tomorrow.”
Source: BWT Alpine Formula One Team
