The first day of free practice on the Baku street circuit again gave us a duel between Ferrari and Red Bull. But surely the one who stood out the most was Fernando Alonso, who with his Alpine finished the day with the fourth best time.
The first day of free practice Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix It was quite a positive for Alpine, who saw both of their drivers comfortably crack the Top 10 on Friday.
But the truth is that Alpine He has reason for optimism beyond a simple competitive time in free practice. And it is that the Anglo-French formation in which Fernando Alonso plays debuted a new aerodynamic package that has worked like a charm.
“Since the last corner, we are losing three or four tenths with him”
We are talking about three main elements: a new floor, modified pontoon intakes to generate a longer and steeper lower channel and, finally, a low downforce rear spoiler.
All this resulted in, in addition to a competitive lap time and a balanced car, an unattainable top speed that placed the Alpines at the front of the grid with a top speed of 342km/h.
Pierre Gasly, “quite impressed” with Alonso
All this resulted in Fernando Alonso completing a spectacular Friday day, achieving fourth position ahead of Carlos Sainz (who was affected by yellow flags) and Pierre Gasly.
Precisely the Frenchman admitted to being impressed with the speed of Fernando Alonso, which he described as “quite terrifying”. The Frenchman was not far from the Spaniard, just under two tenths, but he knows that top speed will be decisive on the 2.2 kilometer straight during Sunday’s race.
“I think we are in the fight and we are not alone. I’m pretty impressed with Alonso and the straight line speed of the Alpine, I must say. Since the last corner, we are losing three or four tenths with him”, admits the AlphaTauri pilot.
“I need to check if I had a slipstream because it was pretty scary! We are up there, Alonso is up there, Mercedes is up there and we know that Norris, when qualifying comes around, is always up there.”
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In any case, there is still a lot to do and Alpine must confirm its good performance on this circuit by getting a good grid position and maintaining the reliability of the last two races.
Gasly, for his part, doesn’t want to get too excited about his own pace either. “I don’t want to get too excited because Friday in Monaco was amazing and we know what happened then, but so far it’s been a good day.”
Photos: Alpine F1 Team