Pierre Gasly sadly concludes his first season at Alpine

Pierre Gasly’s weekend was not ideal, reflecting the season as a whole. After two decent qualifying sessions, the Frenchman started in 10th position on Sunday, hoping to score points in this first part of the field. However, after struggling with performance issues and encountering new race incidents, Pierre Gasly finished 13th.

The qualifications had started well

The beginning of the weekend looked challenging but far from catastrophic. During practice sessions, Gasly finishes in ninth place twice. Nothing very encouraging, but the qualifying sessions could put him in a good position. In the first two qualifying sessions, he passes the test to make it to Q3. In the second session, he even managed to be among the top five performing drivers.

However, during this final session, he fails to set a time fast enough to start better than 10th position. He finishes the session 1.103 seconds behind Max Verstappen and the pole position.

A good start but not enough

Pierre Gasly’s race had started off very well. He managed to surprise Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton right from the start to hold onto the 8th position. On the 26th lap, following a contact caused by the seven-time World Champion, the Norman driver noticed a considerable loss of performance. The beginning of the end for this Grand Prix. « “I had my first contact with Checo at that moment and a little later, I had Lewis who finished me off by crashing into me at turn 6,” said Pierre Gasly in an interview with Canal +. “During the braking, we had a clash and it tore off pieces of my rear diffuser. So after that, it became very complicated and, well, we were losing 3 to 4/10. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much more to do from that moment on.”

Following the loss of the diffuser, Pierre Gasly’s race car was able to continue on track, although its performance level was diminished. « “After that, it was very, very difficult to drive,” he explained. « “We were losing between 4 to 5/10 per lap, so it was quite challenging. But well, I think today was not really our day and there were many things we could have done differently, but well, that’s part of the learning process for next year, and I believe overall it was a good season.” »

A convincing season judged

For his first season with Alpine, Pierre Gasly is rather satisfied. The Normandy native finishes the season ahead of his teammate and achieves his best championship in terms of points. A satisfaction for him after having left the back of the grid and AlphaTauri. « Overall, honestly I am satisfied », he confided to the encrypted French channel.

« It’s always complicated to join a new team. You have to find your bearings and it always takes a little time. The beginning of the season was a bit tumultuous. There were races, some good and some more challenging. We made mistakes, it took a little time before things fell into place, but I think we really finished the second half of the season on a high note. We ended with a great mentality, a good dynamic within the team. Of course, the car is not as performant as we would like, but I am really satisfied with what I have seen in these past weeks and months. We need to continue in this direction, come back next year with a more performant car, and I am convinced that we have the means to achieve great things. »

After finishing 4th in the driver standings in 2022, Alpine ultimately settled for 6th place in 2023.