Pierre Gasly salvaged a point for Alpine F1 in a hard-fought race, preventing a completely disappointing weekend for the team. The French driver battled throughout the Grand Prix, including a spirited fight with teammate Esteban Ocon, to secure a tenth-place finish and a crucial single point in the championship standings.
Despite the point, Gasly acknowledged a frustrating weekend but found a little measure of satisfaction in the race itself. He also discussed the challenges presented by the new generation of Formula 1 cars and their complex power units.
“It was a complicated weekend, we had to fight a lot today. We learned a lot of things, it’s changed enormously compared to what we knew before and there are many things to improve,” Gasly said.
“Between the engines, there are many differences in regeneration, energy usage. There are straights where some engines use more power, less in others and that creates situations we’ve never seen before.”
“So much the better if it’s good on TV for you, for us it’s a bit strange in the car. You have to be intelligent, know how to use your energy, know where to defend and where to attack, knowing that there is always a consequence to these actions.”
Gasly also assessed Alpine’s overall performance, stating, “This point was hard-earned and we can be satisfied at the finish of this long afternoon in the car.”
“I had a good start to gain some positions before several lively battles on the track. We suffered some damage during a contact and that probably prevented us from expressing our full potential.”
“I think we could have fought even higher in slightly more favorable circumstances. We can take positives from this and will work tirelessly this week, as there is still a lot to learn.”
“The races are clearly different this year. This brought its share of new challenges today and several tactics and factors now come into play. Now that we’ve seen how it went, we have new things to understand and implement for the future.”
“I enjoyed it, it was intense from start to finish and we have a lot of parameters to assimilate. Next week we will have a sprint weekend in China, where we will have to be immediately in the rhythm. I’m leaving Melbourne satisfied, so bravo to the whole team.”
Franco Colapinto began his race by narrowly avoiding a major incident at the start. He was then handed a stop-and-go penalty due to a mistake by his mechanics, who worked on the car too late, ultimately finishing well down the order despite remaining optimistic.
“If we are only looking at the result, we are not where we want to be. However, there are clearly positive points to be taken from our race pace and the data collected, from which we can learn lessons for the next events,” the Argentinian driver said.
“Given our position on the grid, it was going to be difficult and the penalty related to a pit stop procedure infringement ultimately took away any hope of fighting higher up. We win and lose together and we are all in the same boat.”
“I was actually lucky to reach the finish, as my race could have ended very quickly. I had a close call trying to avoid [Liam] Lawson, who was very slow at the lights going out. I almost hit him from behind and only saw him at the last moment.”
“I turned the steering wheel to the right to slip between the pit wall and him. I think I touched the wall, but fortunately we didn’t suffer any significant damage and we got through the first lap unscathed.”
“Despite the result and our start to the weekend, I think we can be satisfied with the behavior and performance of the car, especially in race conditions, where we were comparable to some of our midfield competitors. Bravo also to Pierre for starting the season by scoring a point.”
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