Pierre Gasly admits he expected he might qualify dead last in Bahrain.
After the overweight and slow 2024 car struggled through pre-season testing last week, many journalists’ pecking-order predictions thought Alpine may have slumped to the very back of the grid.
Indeed, Gasly qualified dead last on Friday - a tenth or so slower than fellow Frenchman and teammate Esteban Ocon in the sister Alpine.
"It’s never pleasant," Gasly told France’s Canal Plus afterwards. "But, honestly, unfortunately, that’s where we are."
As well as being overweight, Alpine’s Renault engine is also still lagging behind the other manufacturers.
"We expected to suffer and we are already suffering," team boss Bruno Famin said. "We are not where we want, we know that, but there are developments that will happen."
Gasly agrees that the team "anticipated" the possibility of being slowest of all in Bahrain.
"It’s a shame and there’s a lot of work ahead of us, we know that," he said. A blow to morale? We had anticipated it. And we have to do the best with what we have.
"Developments must happen now, but for the moment we must do the best possible. We saw it coming since the tests. The car doesn’t react the way we want it to
"It hurts to see yourself at the back of the grid. But nothing is ever lost either, it’s the first race of the year. A lot can still happen.
"Naturally, our performance is much worse than it seemed a few months ago. So for now we just have to be patient. It’s not fun for everyone, not just me as the driver but all of those who are working crazy hours. We’re all in the same boat.
"We have been open and objective about our situation and I believe that the team will find the solution so that we take the necessary step forward," Gasly added.