Pierre Gasly is pleased with his weekend in Austin having reached the points zone in the Sprint and the Grand Prix itself. The French driver pointed out that the US GP was one of the best of the season.
When lights went out at Circuit of the Americas, Gasly explained that he tried to avoid any risk, believing it could jeopardise his race. He did drop three spots on the opening lap. It paid off as Piastri and Ocon came together before the sweepers, forcing both to ultimately retire by lap 10.
“There were pretty aggressive guys out there, and I knew I needed to keep my nose clean cause we had the pace today and there was no point to risk everything in the first lap. I think it paid off,” commented Gasly.
“I managed to get the best result in both races, P7 yesterday, P8 today [P6 after the disqualifications of Hamilton and Leclerc]. The car ahead of us is a Mercedes of George [Russell], which also finished in P2 with Lewis [Hamilton] in both races.
“We know we are not there yet to fight with these guys, but I am pleased with the way we’ve executed the whole weekend. From the team, I think it is probably our most complete weekend so far this season.”
Photo credit: BWT Alpine F1 Team
Gasly was inside the top 10 all weekend, culminating in a P6 finish on Sunday after showing fantastic speed and consistency all weekend.
The 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner was very happy with the work done over the weekend by Alpine.
“I am very pleased in terms of work, performance and extracting the maximum out of the package, I think that was probably the best weekend so far this year. That’s what we need to build on next year.”
Satisfied with the work done by the team and the progress made since the beginning of this campaign, the Alpine driver believes this is the right direction and the starting point for next year as they attempt to make the step required to catch the front group.
“It’s about the processes and the way we are working and trying to improve in all different areas: analysis, reviews, feedback, reactivity. There is definitely some very good progress happening so I am very pleased with the way we are working.
“Obviously it’s not perfect, there are still things we can improve. But I think the main focus is just trying to find a package which is stronger and with more potential than what we have at the moment to close the gap with the guys ahead of us.”
