A small satisfaction
Bittersweet weekend for Alpine at Spa-Francorchamps, with the two drivers finishing in tenth and eleventh positions. Consequently, the placements are respectively valid for the points zone and for a ‘zero’ in the final standings. The one who entered the top 10 was Franco Colapinto, who even before the football disappointment suffered by his national team’s defeat against Spain finished ahead of his teammate for the second consecutive time after Silverstone.
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The Racing Bulls arrive
A result by no means secondary for Alpine in the Constructors’ Championship, which thanks to this point did not suffer the overtaking by Racing Bulls. However, due to Arvid Lindblad’s 7th place, the Faenza-based team now shares the fifth position tied with the French team: “I’m happy to have scored a point this afternoon in Belgium, finishing in tenth position – said Colapinto – it was a long and eventful race, but also very fun behind the wheel, with lots of action. It was a good race for us, a good start that allowed us to gain positions and get closer to the points zone. I really liked the double overtake that secured us tenth place! It was thanks to a good line and the slipstream, then I just had to try to pass inside Liam [Lawson] and then ahead of Pierre to make the overtake. In general, we know where we can fight and where we lack pace. Here we were definitely a bit stronger compared to some recent tracks. We will make further progress soon, but for now I’m happy to have made the most of our potential. The next race is Budapest, which is a very different circuit from this one.”
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A more difficult weekend in contrast for Gasly, 11th and recovering from a violent impact against the barriers in FP2, fortunately without consequences for the French driver: “It was a frustrating race for me, where we finished just outside the points zone. I had a difficult start, not fast enough in the initial phase for some reason and lost some positions on the first lap. After that, we had to try to recover positions in the fight for points among several teams and cars. We tried the undercut to overtake Racing Bulls, but we made a relatively slow pit stop, which meant our exit lap was in traffic and this affected our chances of success. From my point of view, I had the feeling that our race could have changed if we had a better position on track and were ahead of Racing Bulls at that moment, so there are some things to review and understand. After that, lap after lap, there were many energy management tactics and overtakes on the Kemmel straight. Today didn’t go as I hoped, but the key point is that we are not fast enough. Gabriel [Bortoleto] and Arvid [Lindblad] were too far ahead and this has been a trend in recent weeks.” which we need to reverse soon. I will have a few days to recover before fully focusing on Budapest, the last race before the summer break.”
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