After a dull Singapore GP for Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, the Frenchman had some honest thoughts on the state of his race at the Marina Bay Circuit after finishing in 19th place. Starting from the pit lane after set-up changes on his car, Gasly had a frustrating and lonely race, stuck behind traffic with minimal chances to make a move forward.
Speaking to the print media pen after the race, Gasly remarked that his race was nothing but uneventful and dry, “starting from the pit lane, stuck behind the rear wing of a guy [Ocon]for 50 laps. Just a boring race.”
Tough weekend for the Frenchman
With Alpine having a challenging season overall, an unforgiving track like Singapore failed to help their case. The driver admitted that, going into the race, the team was aware that any attempt at making progress from the pit lane would be futile.
“We knew from the pit lane it was always going to be tough,” he said. “At the minute is not really enjoyable to race like that. I’m just not competitive enough to fight. It’s just a bit frustrating.”
With no safety car intervention for a second year in a row, any form of bold strategy never had the opportunity to materialise. Lack of pace, especially over a physically and mentally demanding 62-lap night race, weighed heavily on the driver. While he emphasized the team continues to work together to find solutions, there’s a sense of urgency and disappointment creeping in.
“Honestly, the last few weekends haven’t been good enough. Even though we are not competitive enough, it just feels like we are not putting things together,” Gasly admitted. “We sit down with the team and work all together. I think Austin should be better. It’s just from a track characteristic.”
Differently challenging weekend
With little to no track action, Gasly credited his mindset to trying regardless of the circumstance, “you still try. You still try to put pressure on the car in front. You still try to force them into a mistake.”
Despite the mental fatigue, Gasly continues to dig deep, though he was blunt when making it clear that the lack of competitiveness makes both qualifying and race days harder to endure.
“Ultimately, we are just too slow. It makes it painful on Saturdays and on Sundays.”
Though Gasly said he couldn’t judge whether the race was entertaining for viewers, but implied it was far from thrilling from behind the wheel.
“I haven’t seen the full overall action throughout the whole race. I think you guys are probably better placed to know if it was interesting or not. From my side, hopefully from the outside it was less so.”
As F1 moves to Austin next, Gasly and Alpine will be hoping for a track layout more suited to their car, but will it be enough to end a frustrating run of form?
