Pierre Gasly finished his day at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit with an accident that triggered the red flag during the second free practice session of Formula 1. The incident took place in the final minutes of the session, when the French driver suffered an overload as he exited the Les Fagnes section, just before colliding with the barriers.
According to Alpine’s sporting director, Steve Nielsen, this mistake could have been managed more easily at other circuits. ‘He had a little overload that caused him to touch the kerb, and from there to the barrier. A small mistake that, at other tracks, wouldn’t have been so problematic, but here the penalty is immediate,’ Nielsen indicated.
Gasly, for his part, confirmed his impressions on the accident. ‘It was a big overload. I lost control of the car and, when I regained it, I was already off the track and couldn’t return,’ explained the driver of the French team.
Despite this setback, the day was considered positive for Alpine. After long periods without reaching Q3 in the last races, Franco Colapinto achieved the seventh best time in FP2, surpassing the second fastest car of the midfield group, that of Arvid Lindblad, by 0.147 seconds.
Colapinto expressed his satisfaction: ‘We have found a bit of performance, the cooler conditions and a circuit with more slow corners have helped us improve our limitations. We need to achieve more speed, but it is positive to be ahead of the Racing Bulls after such a long time.’
Gasly also highlighted the effectiveness of the tests: ‘We have tried various components on both cars and we need to analyze which configurations work best. Overall, it has been a productive day for us.’ Although they seem more competitive than in previous sessions, the team acknowledges that they need to maintain a good direction towards qualifying.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
