‘There was even more in it’ – Gasly buoyed by Alpine gains after double Q3 appearance in Baku

Pierre Gasly revealed that he could’ve extracted “even more” from Alpine’s performance in Qualifying without the disruption of yellow flags, concluding that he has “good confidence” in their potential at the Baku City Circuit.

A few weeks on from the Frenchman’s magnificent maiden pole in Italy, Alpine once again look like they can contend for valuable points, with Gasly peaking as high as P6 in Qualifying before settling for P7.

They are embroiled in an ongoing fight to be named ‘best of the rest’ against Racing Bulls, so with both Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad set to start outside of the top 10 for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, this weekend represents a fantastic chance for Alpine to close the nine-point gap.

Reflecting on the session, Gasly said: “Very good work this weekend in terms of car set-up and getting to a place where I can really be comfortable with the balance and commit everywhere. I’m very pleased.

“Strong Qualifying – honestly, our last two runs were both compromised with people going off, so I think there was even more in it. I think [getting] ahead of Lewis [Hamilton] was possible.

“We don’t control it, we were just unlucky that people kept going off in front of us. Overall, bigger picture, I’m just happy with the car we have. It’s a good baseline that also gives me good confidence for tomorrow and the coming races.

“[Ferrari] probably have more pace, but I think it’s probably the time I’ve felt best in Baku in terms of car balance. It’s always tricky with tyres etc., but at least I was really able to throw the car around and play with it. We’re starting in a good place for some good points.”

The team were able to celebrate both cars progressing to Q3 as Franco Colapinto also squeezed through, but he failed to set a representative lap time in the final segment after locking up at Turn 15.

Settling for P10, the Argentine was understandably not as satisfied as his team mate despite contributing to Alpine’s third double Q3 appearance of the 2026 season.

“I think generally there’s still a lot to improve,” Colapinto explained. “It’s not been an easy session. I lacked a bit of pace, but then Q3 was not very well executed – I had this big lock-up and then I had really big vibrations for the last lap.

“We’re still doing the steps, we’re improving. I just lacked a bit in that Q3 to have a better result, but I will try to fight tomorrow and go forward. It’s good to have both cars in Q3.

“I’m not very comfortable in the hard braking zones, and here it’s full of those. It doesn’t feel so easy at the minute but we’ll try to work for tomorrow.”