After a stunning performance during Saturday’s qualifying session, BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Pierre Gasly will start Sunday’s Mexico Grand Prix race from P8. This will be the Frenchman’s second consecutive race start from within the Top 10 having started the United States Grand Prix race from P6 after Mercedes’ George Russell was required to start from the pit lane after his modifications were made to W15 under Parc Fermé conditions.
Speaking after qualifying, Gasly, who lost out on P7 to Haas’ Kevin Magnussen by a mere six-thousandths of a second, admitted that the situation was frustrating as he had run out of battery only a few metres before the line. He attributed this loss of battery power to his inability to outqualify Magnussen, stating that he had had the additional six-thousandths before he had run out of battery.
“Yeah, especially because we ran out of battery like, I don’t know, 70 metres before the line. So, these six-thousandths, we clearly had them.”
Despite his disappointment in being unable to secure a higher starting position, Gasly stated that he was looking at the “bigger picture” as he had struggled throughout the weekend, most notably in the third free practice session where he finished P20 and last as Alpine looked slowest.
“But you know, I’m looking more [at] the bigger picture. This morning, we were P20, absolutely nowhere, struggling for grip on the soft [compound tyres].
“The whole weekend’s been quite difficult, and I couldn’t get the car here I wanted.”
He explained that his team had made changes to his A524 before qualifying and that those changes had allowed him to substantially improve his performance. He also credited the strength of the upgrades introduced ahead of the United States Grand Prix which he claimed had put the team “on the right part” and significantly contributed to his ability to qualify well both there and in Mexico.
“[We] made a lot of changes before quali and then it was just a completely different story.
“So straight away from Q1, I managed to put some strong laps and then after that just being able to repeat it. So yeah, definitely happy since we have the new parts in Austin. We were Q3 last week, we’re able to do another Q3, so definitely on the right path.”
Gasly also admitted that a lack of comfort around the track, made worse by the track’s already-tricky layout, had impacted his confidence going into qualifying, and had left him pessimistic about his ability to get out of the first qualifying session. Despite this and his difficulties during qualifying, Gasly reiterated that his performance had improved during qualifying and added that he was “very happy” with his team.
“Wow, and I say this morning, I just could not believe, like, just everything felt wrong and going into quali the confidence was extremely low, you know, that we would get out of Q1.
“But yeah, I mean the car was just more together. As you say, going over these curbs, I didn’t manage to get it right once during the whole weekend, throughout the whole free practices.
“We managed to find a bit of consistency in quali and managed to find some good time there, but then same in the high-speed section, you need to really have a good power balance to really be at the limit there and that’s what we managed to find, so I’m very happy with the team.”
Gasly also acknowledged that the Enstone-based team still needed to improve their understanding of their most recently introduced upgrades, as while the upgrades appeared to have significantly improved the A524’s performance in qualifying, they had struggled significantly during practice sessions.
However, he stated that the newest upgrades showed potential, claiming that Alpine had been “the best of the midfield” in Austin and a strong performer in Mexico City.
“Yeah, I mean, since last week we clearly seem to have the best performance [that] we’ve had all year.”
“The window is quite small though, we’ve seen it in the practice was difficult, so, you know, it’s still important to get it right, but there is definitely some potential and once again, excluding the top four, we were the best of the midfield in Austin and again today, without that battery [issue], we were again P7, so definitely some positives.”
He added that Alpine’s improved performance could be an optimistic sign for the team’s World Constructors’ Championship battle with eighth-place Williams Racing.
While he acknowledged that the team had not scored points recently, the Frenchman stated that, despite there being only five races left in the 2024 season, it was mathematically possible for Alpine to overtake Williams in the standings if they were able to outscore the Grove-based team as there is only a four-point gap between the two team.
“We also have our, I mean, it’s optimistic because we haven’t scored points for a while, but we also have Williams, which is our battle and there’s still five races to go.
“So as long as mathematically it’s still possible, we’ve got to try to outscore them.”
However, he admitted that the team needed to solidify their race performance going forward, noting that the United States Grand Prix race had not yielded a “good” outcome for the team, with Gasly finishing P12 despite his P6 start, and his teammate Esteban Ocon finishing P18 despite starting P12.
“I mean, you know, I think at the minute we’ve still got to confirm our performance in the race. Austin was not a good race for us.”
Despite the poor result in Austin, Gasly claimed that he was “a bit more hopeful” for the Mexico Grand Prix race as Alpine understood where they had gone wrong in Austin and learned from their mistakes there. However, he emphasised that it was important to show “some good race pace” on Sunday.”
“I think we understood what went wrong, we got the learning from it and that’s why for tomorrow I’m a bit more hopeful, but still, I think for all of us it’s important we show some good race pace tomorrow.”
When asked how much of his performance could be attributed to his own ability behind the wheel, rather than any effect associated with A524’s new upgrades, Gasly replied, “I don’t know, I just did my job, honestly.”
While he did not directly comment on his teammates’ P19 qualifying position, he acknowledged that the A524 was “difficult at the minute” and stated that the team was not in a place where they were “comfortable” to produce successively strong lap times. He claimed that he had performed well as he had “just got the flow” and that this had helped him extract the best performance from his car.
“I know the car is difficult at the minute. It’s not like we’re in a place where it’s just comfortable to put these laps one after the other, but I just got the flow, same in Austin and same in quali, just managed to put it together and get the best out of it.”
