Today in numbers

Free Practice 3: Pierre P9 (1min 22.898secs); Franco P10 (1min 23.101secs)

Qualifying: Pierre P1 (1min 21.786secs); Franco P8 (1min 22.220secs)

Pierre Gasly: “What an incredible moment, my first pole position in Formula One! I am absolutely delighted by what happened today even if we all can't quite believe it. The result really exceeded our expectations. We did not expect that at all going into the day. It feels very special of course as I have been waiting a long time for this moment in Formula One. Thank you to everyone at the team. The car felt very good, I felt good at the wheel and we just tried to chip away on each lap. Right from Q1 we were fast but even then I did not think pole position was possible! We'll enjoy this moment but we know tomorrow is when it really matters. We will work hard as a team to prepare for the race and really give it our best to maximise our end result as a team.”

Franco Colapinto: “Firstly, congratulations to Pierre and the team. It was an impressive lap from Pierre, and he managed to improve relative to me in the final part of Qualifying. It's positive to have both cars in Q3 and in the fight for points tomorrow, which we know is important given the gap to our rivals has grown in the Championship. The car felt good throughout Qualifying and the changes we made were positive, and this is a circuit that clearly suits our package. We have good straight-line speed, but we know overtaking is a bit of an unknown here this year and deployment strategy will play a factor. We'll prepare, do our best and try to bring some points home.”

Flavio Briatore: “What an incredible result for Pierre, Franco, and the whole team with pole position and both cars in Q3. I'm super proud of Pierre, who deserves this moment with his first-ever pole position in Formula One. The team did a fantastic job and this is exactly what they deserve after the news this week and the points we feel we unfairly lost as a team. It's also amazing to celebrate this milestone for the team together with François [Provost], achieving the team's first pole position as Alpine, and the team's first pole in 17 years.”