Esteban Ocon did not lose much time by missing FP1, while Alpine F1 had entrusted its car to Jack Doohan. The French driver is compassionate for his replacement of the day but is pleased to have been able to learn lessons, particularly on the new asphalt.
“It was a good day, even if Jack was only able to benefit from very limited driving in FP1 because of the weather conditions. It was a shame for him” regrets Ocon. “In the afternoon we rode in the dry and the wet. We were able to catch up on what we couldn’t do in the morning to gather information.”
“The track is much better with this new surface. It’s much more pleasant, so congratulations to those responsible for the circuit. Tomorrow, we hope to be able to really test the grip of the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and have good qualifying.”
Pierre Gasly hopes for good performances throughout the weekend but admits that the weather will be a surprise and a disruptive element: “Overall the car behaved well today, but we didn’t do much driving in the heavy rain conditions. However, all the teams are in the same boat, so there is still a lot of room for improvement. questions for all the teams, especially around the new asphalt. We’ll see what happens next.”
“It would obviously be good to pick up where we left off in Monaco, but we are aware that it was an atypical track and we know where we are with our car and its current performance. Hopefully the weather can redistribute the cards this weekend by creating opportunities. We will work hard to be ready to seize the slightest opportunity that presents itself.
Jack Doohan was unlucky, as the weather was very unpredictable and he was unable to turn, except to check the functioning of the car and do a test start: “These EL1s were not the most exciting for me, with limited driving due to the weather conditions.”
“The forecast also looked uncertain for the rest of the weekend, so it was important to preserve and keep sets of tires in case the rain persisted. We were able to do a rain tire installation tour to ensure that The car was running well.”
“When the track dried at the end, we finished with an exit lap on soft tires before test starts. We still managed to collect useful data. The weather is out of our control, but we finally pulled took full advantage of what we could given the conditions.”
