Alpine addresses Gasly crash and consequences in Spa FP2

Alpine has moved quickly to ease concerns after Pierre Gasly's heavy crash in Friday's second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, insisting the Frenchman escaped unharmed and that the team remains on course to have his car ready for Saturday.

Gasly triggered the session's only red flag with just over 15 minutes remaining at Spa-Francorchamps after losing control on the exit of Turn 13.

The Alpine snapped sideways as he ran wide, sending the car skating through the gravel before it slammed into the barriers, tearing off the rear wing and inflicting significant damage.

Despite the sizeable repair job awaiting the mechanics, both driver and team struck an optimistic tone after the incident.

Gasly reflects on costly end to positive Friday

Before the crash, Alpine had spent the day evaluating a range of new components and setup options across both cars, leaving Gasly encouraged by the progress despite the frustrating finale.

"Overall, [it's] been a good day of testing," said Gasly.

"A lot of different parts tried across both cars, so now we just need to weigh what is good, what is the better of all these settings, and try to put it all together for tomorrow.

"Just need to work on understanding what happened in FP2. Had a big snap [and] lost the car... it took a lot longer to recover and by the time I recovered, I was already off the track and I could not get it back.

"Not the end of the day we wanted, but for sure the guys are going to get it back together tomorrow and then we will focus on trying to get to the top 10."

The Frenchman’s crash cut short what had been an encouraging afternoon for Alpine, with the team believing its package showed greater promise than in recent race weekends.

Alpine unfazed by overnight repair task

Managing Director Steve Nielsen revealed the impact would not derail the team's preparations, noting that Gasly's car had already been scheduled for a power unit change before Saturday's running.

"Pierre is fine, the car is not fine," Nielsen explained. "We were changing the PU on that car tonight anyway, so while it's quite a long jobs list for the mechanics, half of it we were already doing. No problem to be ready for tomorrow.

"This morning was never about lap time for us, it was always about accumulating data. And then this afternoon we looked a bit more at lap time.

"Pierre did set a reasonably competitive time but it was deleted for track limits at Turn 4 which is a shame. But the car seems to have a little bit of pace here, more so than the last couple of races. We just need to make sure we carry that through tomorrow."

• Belgian Grand Prix Free Practice 2 - Results

While Friday ended with a damaged car rather than a completed practice programme, Alpine's focus has already shifted toward qualifying.

With valuable data collected across both sessions and encouraging signs of improved competitiveness, the Enstone squad hopes the overnight rebuild will allow Gasly to put the crash behind him and challenge for a place inside the top 10.

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