Alpine drivers left frustrated after opening day in Baku

After having endured a tough opening day at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were left frustrated by the variety of issues they encountered in the opening two practice sessions in Baku.

The Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished down in P18 and P20 in the opening one-hour practice session, respectively while they were a lowly 18th and 19th as the chequered flag dropped in Free Practice 2.

Ocon missed the majority of the first practice session after enduring a power unit-related issue. Alpine later investigated the issue and detected a technical gremlin with the MGU-H which forced the French team to replace the power unit in Ocon’s car for the second practice.

Reflecting on his, Ocon noted: “We had some issues in Free Practice 1 and we had to catch up in Free Practice 2 this afternoon, as we missed some valuable running time. As a result, it was a very busy second session for us and we managed to do a lot of work during that hour on track.

“We have items to be working on this evening and tomorrow to bring more performance to the car. We know what to work on with the engineers now to get ready for, hopefully, a better day tomorrow.”

His team-mate Gasly completed a total of 43 lap across the two sessions, but he insisted that Alpine needs to turn things around for the remainder of the Baku weekend.

“That was not the smoothest Friday Practice Day from our side. We did not have a clean day with both Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2 compromised for various reasons.

“We have a lot of work to do to turn things around in order to be better placed for the rest of the weekend. We will all put the hard work in and aim to find some improvements.”