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Austrian Grand Prix: Qualifying team notes - Alpine

NEWS STORY
27/06/2026

Pierre Gasly: "We really tried to get the best result today, but I knew it was going to be tight.

"The first lap in Q1 was a good one, which allowed us to keep a second new set of tyres going into Q2 and give us the best shot at getting into the top 10. My last lap in Q2 really felt like a good one and, crossing the line, I thought this is the lap that gets me through but it wasn't quite enough. I'm confident there wasn't that much more in it and the Racing Bulls seem to be a bit faster this weekend. If we could have qualified in front of one of them, it would have been a bonus. I must say, I'm pleased with the step we made from yesterday, we've felt a lot stronger so I'm optimistic for tomorrow. The battle is really with the Racing Bulls and I'm hoping to get one of them at the start. Yesterday, in terms of tyre degradation, it felt pretty good and on Sundays, we seem to make a bit more of a step, so it'll be a nice fight and hopefully we're in a position to score points."

Franco Colapinto: "It wasn't the best result for us in Qualifying today, as we didn't really put a competitive lap together in Q2 and weren't able to show what we were potentially capable of. The car felt a bit better this afternoon and felt like it had improved from the morning's session, where we struggled to find the right balance. The car still felt unpredictable when pushing and trying to find the limit, which you need to around here, and leave nothing on the table. With the short track and very small gaps between teams, you have to push hard otherwise you can find yourself three or four places down the order. Ultimately, that's what happened on my final lap in Q2, where I pushed at the start of the lap and tried to carry more speed into Turn 1 and had a big snap. I went off track and aborted the lap. It's a pity we couldn't complete a final push lap and give ourselves the opportunity to start higher up tomorrow. The car tends to feel stronger in the race on high fuel and hopefully we can move forward and challenge those immediately ahead of us."

Steve Nielsen: "We can't be fully satisfied with the result and how it went today, as the target every weekend remains to get both cars into the top 10 and be in a strong position to fight for points in the race. I think with looking at the pace of the Racing Bulls today, we couldn't really compete with them, at least over a single Qualifying lap, and ultimately, it's probably a fair outcome and reflection of where we are at this track in these conditions. You could see both drivers were really pushing to get the most out of it. Pierre did a good job and came close to pipping Max [Verstappen] to make it into Q3, but you could also see with the behaviour of the car it wasn't a comfortable ride and moving around a lot. The same can be said for Franco who was showing good pace and had a big snap and moment into Turn 1 on his final lap in Q2. We're still learning about the new parts and trying to extract the most from them. We saw from Friday and previous events, we can be more competitive in the race and aim to make forward progress in the Grand Prix tomorrow."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Spielberg here.

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