A costly missed pit stop for Pierre Gasly in Austin
Starting sixth on the grid, Pierre Gasly couldn't capitalize on Sunday's race, finishing twelfth at the end. The Frenchman carried the weight of a missed pit stop by his team throughout the race.
The clear skies of qualifying quickly dissipated for Pierre Gasly when car number 10 entered the pit lane to change his tires. However, the Frenchman, thanks to a good start, had managed to hold on to his 6th position on the grid (7th time in qualifying, but Russell started from the pit lane as his team violated the Parc Fermé regulations, editor's note).
Read also: United States Grand Prix - Race: Charles Leclerc masters Texas!
The conditions in Austin were favorable for a one-stop strategy, with a switch to hard tires and another to mediums. Alpine and Gasly followed this pattern. Still on the outskirts of the Top 5 after the first 18 laps, the native of Rouen entered the pit lane to counter Kevin Magnussen's undercut attempt.
A disastrous decision
The Haas driver, trailing Gasly by two seconds, was one of the first to pit for hard tires. The Frenchman followed suit, but the duel turned in favor of the Dane. The reason: an extended stop for the A524 lasting 6.9 seconds, the worst pit stop of the race this Sunday.
Although Normand did not directly criticize his team after the race, he highlighted the mistakes that cost him dearly. "We need to do better," he said on Canal +. "We had a very good qualifying, unfortunately today, we were way too slow and I think there were too many mistakes on multiple levels, so we will have to work and do better as a team in the upcoming races."
Rédhibitoire consequences
Gasly came out of the pits with nearly three seconds behind Magnussen. Even worse, he found himself stuck in traffic, losing a lot of time trying to regain positions against the drivers who stayed on track. As if that wasn't enough, he also struggled to warm up his new tires. This early pit stop, in addition to being poorly managed, may not have been the right choice: "We were doing well on mediums, we stopped very early, we put on hard tires. We were very slow, we couldn't get the tires to warm up," he analyzes.
A return to the Top 10 already seemed highly compromised. Especially since Gasly's misfortunes continued a few minutes later. While trying to climb back up the rankings, the former Red Bull driver went off track while trying to pass Alex Albon on the outside (38th lap). This maneuver earned him a somewhat harsh five-second penalty towards the end of the race.
Regrets, but hope.
Gasly has reason to be disappointed with the evolution of his race in Texas: « There are many things that didn't go well during the race and on which we were not good enough. » His good qualifying gave him hope of scoring his first points in four races and his ninth place at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The improvements made to his Alpine nevertheless reveal hope for the last five races of the season. There is performance. Unfortunately, today, we did not exploit it at all. The French team missed an opportunity to turn things around in Austin and will have to bounce back next weekend at the Mexican neighbor's.
