Gasly after dramatic qualifying: 'I have no answers for it'

Pierre Gasly could not have started his Alpine career worse than last Saturday. Not only did the driver not get out of Q1, he also put in last. Indeed, his time was removed because he exceeded the track limits. His teammate Esteban Ocon clocked the ninth time of the day, with over a second difference between the two drivers. Not the start Gasly had hoped for, then.

Gasly moved from AlphaTauri to Alpine last winter, which on paper is a better team last season than AlphaTauri. Still, he failed to get a good result during qualifying.

Unlucky session

Gasly was doing a qualifying run, but because it was annulled, he had to end Q1 with P20. He himself said the following to various media in Bahrain: "I have no answers for it." The driver was very surprised by the true speed of Williams and AlphaTauri, yet he feels the responsibility lies with him. “But I mean, for now, it’s mainly looking at ourselves. Today was the first time we went all out and just the car was very different to what I’ve experienced before." Gasly stated about the result.

Surprising result

During the free practice sessions and winter test, Alpine was in the midfield. There, they showed that while there was some speed in the car, there is still a lot of work to be done for the team. So this result by Gasly was totally unexpected, given the previous results.

This poor result is not the only thing Gasly can be upset about this weekend, as Alpine has also been fined 100 euros. This is because he exceeded the speed limit applicable in the pit lane.