Masamitsu Motohashi had hoped to leave Imola with more points. Honda's Formula 1 chief engineer, AlphaTauri, saw Max Verstappen win, but the number of points scored by AlphaTauri was disappointing. Pierre Gasly finished seventh despite a dramatic first stint on the fullwets, but Yuki Tsunoda ended up outside the point after a spin.
"Yes, it was a disappointing race. We gained some positions back, but we were in a position to take more (points). It was disappointing in that respect," Motohashi said. It's starting to become a trend that AlphaTauri is able to position themselves well in qualifying, but on Sundays it's always a bit disappointing.
Tough conditions in Imola
Still, the AT02's race pace remains pretty good. It's just that a lot of potential points were lost in Bahrain and Imola. "It was a very difficult race because of the changes on the track. We had to make a lot of decisions, especially with the choice of full wets and intermediates. But I agree that the race pace on a dry track was not bad. However, it was not spectacularly fast like in qualifying."
In Bahrain, Gasly qualified in fifth place, but a touch with Daniel Ricciardo immediately made a great final result unattainable. "It's a shame about that incident in the opening race in Bahrain, but the pace was already not too bad. The last two races have shown that we are stronger than last year, at least on a dry track, throughout the weekend." In just over a week, the Faenza-based team can once again show what it is capable of. Formula 1 will then descend on Portugal.