Gasly: The result is disappointing, but we're not fast enough.

      Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto finished at the back of the sprint qualifying in Qatar. The team are unsurprisingly unhappy with the result, but admitted the car lacks pace on this circuit.

      Pierre Gasly (19th): “Sprint qualifying wasn’t easy, and the result was disappointing.

      On the final lap of the first session I had problems already at turn one due to cold tyres – at the start of the lap there simply wasn’t enough grip, and I lost a lot of time. The tyres gradually warmed up and the second and third sectors went much better, but too much was lost at the start of the lap.

      We were probably not quick enough to make it into the second part, but at least we got information and hopefully we can improve in Saturday’s qualifying.”

      Franco Colapinto (20th): “Obviously this is not the kind of sprint qualifying result we wanted, and it’s not our best performance. In the first practice we were reasonably competitive from the start, and we looked pretty good on the Hard tyres. I couldn’t put in a fast lap on the Softs because I lost a lot of time due to heavy wheel lock-up.

      Given that the gravel run-offs are very close to the corners, any mistake or wide excursion off track is costly, because there’s a risk of damaging the floor. That’s what happened in practice, and it affected our preparation.

      Obviously we need to analyse everything and decide on the setup for the remaining weekend sessions, but first test a few things. The car was difficult to drive in every session, so we’ll see what needs to change on Saturday.”