Hope at Alpine after dramatic Friday in Japan

Pierre Gasly did end a race day on a more pleasant note. It was the Alpine Frenchman whose crash caused the second free practice session to come to an early end for everyone. For himself and his team, the skid was the most annoying: in fact, Alpine had some extra work to do to get the car back in good shape.

Repairs work for Alpine

It was a pretty tough day for Alpine in Japan. The day ended all the way in a minor way with Gasly crashing, but before that things were not going smoothly for the French racing stable. Esteban Ocon did not get beyond a 12th time in the second free practice, Gasly ended the session in the wall and in 19th place.

''At this stage of the race weekend, I would say we have some work to do and I’m sure there’s more to come from us. Unfortunately, our day ended with a small off at Turn 9 right at the end of Free Practice 2. I just lost the front slightly and I could not correct it in time and that meant we slid through the gravel and into the barrier. We will learn from it and move on,'' said the Frenchman after the sessions at the Suzuka Circuit.

''In terms of today’s performance, there are a lot of things we can assess both on low and high fuel. The tyres are quite challenging and it’s something we’ll certainly aim to get on top of ready for the rest of the weekend. It’s an extremely tight pack with one or two-tenths of a second splitting a lot of cars, so extracting every detail tomorrow will count.''

Opportunities for Alpine in Japan

Although Ocon did not park his car in the wall, it was also a difficult Friday for Alpine's other Frenchman. However, Ocon did enjoy the circuit. ''It’s probably my favourite of the year.''

Ocon continued: ''It was a busy day in the car today and we have learned a lot out on track in both sessions. We also saw some good improvements from Free Practice 1 to Free Practice 2 and we put in some competitive lap times in the afternoon session. It only takes three or four tenths to gain a few positions, so it’s extremely close amongst a number of cars. We have some work to do overnight and hopefully we can be in a good position tomorrow to have another strong Qualifying.''