Pierre Gasly has seen happier times in Formula 1. The Alpine driver finished 17th during last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, but if wasn’t for Daniel Ricciardo’s stop for the fastest lap he would have been last. And coming off a 18th starting position, that meant there were very little highlights for the Frenchman during the race.
“Today I got sacrificed,” Gasly started off his recap of the evening. “Left out on track to block the others and try to help Esteban to catch up. Fundamentally we were just too slow and it forced us to try some interesting strategies.
“I mean when you’re lapping 5 seconds of the pace the last 10 laps, [there is] not much point, but I understand we tried to help one car in a way. But you know, it’s because we were obviously not able to fight on a pure pace for the top 10.”
When asked whether he was surprised to be put on the soft tyres after a 37 lap stint on the medium tyres, he replied he was suprised by the tactics in general.
“I was just surprised to be left out like that.
“Made my way back, I think we were running 3-4 seconds behind Esteban. And only after that I was left out for another 15-20 laps. When everybody around me was overtaking right and left. It’s not much to do on an afternoon like that.
“I obviously hoped that we would be able to do slightly more than just use me as blocking the others.”
There are a few updates expected in either Austin or Mexico City, and Gasly can’t wait to start looking ahead, as the gap with the teams ahead has only increased since their last points finish in the Dutch Grand Prix.
“It’s going to be a step when we have some more upgrades. At the moment we just need to look at the delta. Three races ago I finished ninth in Zandvoort.
“The last three races we’ve been absolutely nowhere. I think we’ve got to be objective about what we do. We’ve got to review what we have in our hands.
“We are clearly the ninth fastest car at the moment. I think there are just the Alfa’s behind us. The gap with the guys ahead is just growing week after week.”
Struggling to find pace, one-time race winner refuses to throw his team under the bus, but in the meantime clearly yearns for the new car for 2025.
“We do need some new parts to come, which is going to come. I know we’ve got the team and the people to make the right steps. It’s just that at the moment it’s coming too slowly.
“The season is almost coming to an end. The next car is going to be very different. We’ve got to maximise what we have.
“On a day like today, we probably maximised what we could do on one car. On my side, it was just a compromise from the moment we decided to leave me out on the track.”
Gasly plans to spend a lot of time in the factory, helping the engineers out where he can in order to have a better season in 2025.
I’m going to spend quite a few days [at the factory],” he explained. “I have a plan with the team that’s working on next year’s car. I think the suffering has been enough this year.
“We’re going to make sure that as a team, we do a much better job next year. This year is 13 points.”
Failing to score better than a ninth place all season, it has been rough for the Enstone outfit, which managed two podium spots in 2023.
“Since January, we’ve been telling that the car was completely out of the window. We’ve managed at times to get a P9, P10.
“Next year, we need to clearly make a big step forward. Not even in the midfield. The goal was to try to get close to the top three.
“We drifted away from the midfield and drifted back. We need to make sure we put ourselves in a much better position.“
