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Alpine driver Pierre Gasly claimed it “was a very long afternoon” for himself and Alpine, and he suggested that “bouncing” around Autodromo Nazionale Monza at the Italian Grand Prix was an issue.
No improvements in Italy
The once Renault-branded team currently sit eighth in the Constructors’ Championship, 15 points behind American team Haas.
Their hunt of the US-based team was once again hampered in Italy after Kevin Magnussen finished in 10thextending their lead of Alpine by a point.
Gasly and teammate Esteban Ocon finished outside the top 10, in 15th and 14th, respectively.
The French manufacturer joined Stake as the only two teams with both cars finishing outside the points.
When reflecting on the French pairing’s struggles, the one-time race winner shared his disappointment after feeling the race pace of the A524 would help them improve their weekend from qualifying.
As reported by F1, Gasly said:
“It was a very long afternoon. I’m very disappointed because I thought that somehow in the race things will get better compared to yesterday, and it was actually worse.
“We had some brake issues yesterday we found out after quali, which carried on this afternoon. The car was bouncing a lot and we just had no grip out there. We finished 30 seconds I think from the top 10, which is not good.
‘A lot of work’ ahead for Alpine
If Alpine fails to finish higher than eighth in 2024, it will be the Enstone-based team’s worst season performance since 2016, when they finished ninth.
However, Alpine doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of improvement yet; as Gasly suggested, there “is a lot of work ahead.”
“There is a lot of work ahead of us to understand why… Last week at a very different track we had some pace to fight there, today it was impossible, so [I’m] pretty disappointed.”
When reflecting on the individual issues the team faced Gasly expanded that the “bouncing” they had experienced in previous events, which had disappeared, since had come back.
“Bouncing, we didn’t have much in the last few events and we had a lot here,” added Gasly. “Obviously it’s a very specific track with the rear wing we’re running, so a lot to review.”
Featured image: Photo by Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images