Pierre Gasly has labelled his performance in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as one of his best in his racing career.
The 28-year-old had been disqualified on Saturday for a fuel mass flow breach, leaving him at the back of the grid when the race got going.
He cleared the Saubers and Daniel Ricciardo, and he finished ahead of teammate Esteban Ocon to cross the line in P12.
Alpine had a dreadful weekend in Baku, with Esteban Ocon having all sorts of car problems throughout the event, leaving him with very little track time before qualifying and the race. The car fundamentally lacked pace as well.
Speaking in his written media session on Thursday, Gasly explained that it’s unlikely they can overtake Williams in the Constructors’ Championship as the performance is simply not there.
The Grove-based team scored 10 points in Azerbaijan, passing Alpine for P8 in the standings. It’s 16-13 in favour of Williams at present.
“I mean, you obviously always do the analysis. I think the fair conclusion is that at the moment we’re just too slow.
“You know, it’s still tough to see Williams passing us in the Constructors’ [Championship]. But I think it’s a fair representation, we’re the 9th fastest car and a fair representation of the performance we’ve been showing since the start of the year, unfortunately.
“So bigger picture, [we’ve] got to fix [things] and put a strong car for next year.“The end of this year, whether we finish 9th or 8th as a team, it won’t change. It will still be a disappointing season.
“I know everybody is working as hard as they can to get on top of the issues we’re having at the moment with the car in all areas, and everybody is motivated to get the best out of it.
“But just the overall performance of the car is not there and we’re not going to be able to change it massively over the remaining course of the year.”
Baku is a circuit where a driver can make a difference, especially over a single lap.
Before he was thrown out of the qualifying results, Gasly was a stunning P4 in Q1, before reality returned as the 28-year-old dropped to 13th.
Alpine started the year at the back of the field. While they have improved their car somewhat, big limitations on the A524 means bigger steps cannot be made until next year.
“I know people get excited, but at that time I just know I managed to put an amazing lap, probably taking more risks than some other guys need to at this stage in qualifying.
“But that’s where we are. If we want to get out of Q1, we can’t leave any single thing on the table on track like Baku. It’s quite risky.
“But yeah, I think it’s extremely tough. There are still two leagues with the top 8 and the rest of the midfield, but that midfield got very competitive.
“You’ve got the Williams that are very fast, You’ve got the Haas, the Aston, the RBs sometimes are also very competitive. So it’s tough. I think we’ve been slightly at the back of this group for most of the year.
“And yeah, we know why. I know what doesn’t work on the car. I know it’s going to be changed next year.
“I said it. I think Baku was probably in my top three best race ever driven as a driver. I was at the absolute limit on a difficult track with a difficult car. At the end I crossed the line in P12. So it’s obviously tough to take.
“I went back home with zero points and nothing really to be happy about. But that’s what it is. We’re pushing.
“And I know the bigger picture for me is really to get a strong package for next year.”
After mentioning that his Sunday performance in Baku was a top three drive in his career to date, Gasly was pushed on whether it could be compared to his sole F1 win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix.
“Yeah, yeah,” was his reply.
The French driver explained how on the limit he was just to try and get himself in the midfield fight last weekend.
“I think driving wise, I was really in the zone with the top car at the absolute limit in terms of lines, in terms of being at the edge of that car with all the tractions, the entries, the braking, on a difficult track.
“And even the car didn’t perform […] it’s never easy to get in that sweet spot, especially when the car doesn’t actually react the way you want. But I was finding ways in every single corner to really get the best out of it.
“You’ll put all the other cars out of the race, I’ll be like, this was the absolute best. But obviously you put all the cars and we’re still miles behind. But we know why.
“And I think, as I said, most important is to have a clear direction as a team on how to get better next season.”
