Pierre Gasly admitted that the Alpine car had no more in the Bahrain Grand Prix as he finished 18th with team-mate Esteban Ocon just ahead in P17.
It has been a difficult start to the 2024 season for the team, as their new A524 concept failed to score points on its first outing. That disappointing first Grand Prix was followed by the news that technical director Matt Harman and aerodynamics chief Dirk de Beer had left the team, and Alpine announced a technical reorganisation.
The announcement continues the theme of high-level changes seen at Alpine during 2023, with team director Otmar Szafnauer, sporting director Alan Permane, technical director Pat Fry and chief executive Laurent Rossi leaving, and Bruno Famin leaving. previously confirmed as full-time team manager. this year.
On track there were hopes that Alpine would see some progress after their sixth place finish as constructors last year, but after their lowly finishing places in Bahrain, Gasly later admitted that the car had no more left. It was also a day where nothing went their way, as both drivers were hampered by the chaos at Turn 1 that ensued after Lance Stroll spun, and Gasly also suffered a slow pit stop that cost him more time.
“We knew it would be difficult to fight, but it was also not our day,” Gasly said. “I had an amazing start but then I got into trouble with Lance [Stroll] spinning, like everyone was piling up in turn 1, so I didn’t benefit from the great start.
“After that, we felt like the car had maximized everything. We are struggling with pit stops at the moment, we know it is an area we need to improve, it took me about ten seconds today. “We’re working on it, the guys are working on it, today wouldn’t have put us in the points, but we know it’s an area we have to improve on in the coming weeks.”
With Saudi Arabia hot on Bahrain’s heels, there is not much time to analyze the data, and Gasly confirmed that the team does not have any improvements in the works yet, although he does hope that the Jeddah track will suit their needs. car a little more than Bahrain.
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“I wish I could read in the future and have the solutions,” he added. “At this moment we are all pushing in the same direction, we are aware of the situations, we are aware of the limitations we have. We have to find solutions with the tools we have in our hands.
“We don’t expect any magic tricks for next week, we won’t have any improvements to the car, but in the medium and long term we know the direction we want to take and what we want to improve, and patience will help us.” be key.”
As for Gasly’s teammate Ocon, he could have finished ahead of his teammate, but that was all he had to show in a race where none of the Alpine cars seemed capable of breaking through the field. field. For a team that was fighting for podiums at times last year, it could be a bitter pill to swallow, but instead the Frenchman is taking the positives where he can find them.
“The most important thing for me is to get the maximum out of the car, if the car is where we are now, if the car is up at the front, that is my goal for the whole season and that is what I want to achieve.
“I’m looking forward to checking the data, that’s the exercise we have to do today, checking the data compared to other cars with different compounds and seeing what the difference is between the race and qualifying with the other cars.
“Overall it has been a difficult weekend, but I think Jeddah should suit our car a little better and I hope we are closer to the peloton than this weekend.”
Ocon left hoping the Alpine car would suit Jeddah better after 17th in Bahrain