Pierre Gasly arriving to the COTA paddock - Photo: Race Pictures

Gasly praises new Alpine boss Steve Nielsen’s fresh approach

20:45, 16 Oct

byBen Hunt

Pierre Gasly says he has been impressed by Alpine’s new Managing Director, Steve Nielsen.

The British engineer has had a long career in F1 and worked for a number of teams including Lotus, Benetton, Honda and Arrows.

He has also held roles at Caterham, Toro Rosso, Williams and held key posts in F1 and the FIA.

Nielsen, 61, was appointed by Flavio Briatore in September to replace Oliver Oakes and while neither Gasly nor his teammate Franco Colapinto has scored a single point in the last five races, Gasly is convinced they are making progress.

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He told GPblog: “I really like his approach in the team. He's very fair, a very factual guy, very aware of the situation. He's also fresh to the team and brings that energy and vision for the future.

“I must say, I'm quite impressed with how the team is reacting to the season we're having. It's tough for everyone. Obviously, I'm frustrated not to perform, but every single person in the garage is also trying their hardest to see the car at the front of the grid. And I must say, everyone is sticking together. It's nice to see.

“It also shows that we're all working in the same direction, we're all pulling the same way. And I think we're all aware of the reasons why we are in that situation and what's potentially coming for the team in the future.

"We have all the ingredients to be a successful team. Steve is great, but at all levels, we have got very smart people with a lot of experience with successful times in F1, and that's why I have a lot of optimism for next season.”

Gasly talking to Steve Nielsen and Dave Greenwood - Photo: Race Pictures

Changes on Gasly's car for the US Grand Prix

Gasly will benefit from upgraded parts for this weekend’s race and claims that it is the first significant change since the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona back in June. That comes together with a special livery for COTA.

He added: “We obviously repair parts. You can't have new aero parts every single weekend, and you have some wear out. You want to put new aero parts on the car, and we unfortunately have done some repairs. Some parts that I've been using since Monza were not quite right, and it took us some time to figure it out.

"Eventually, after Singapore, we worked hard with the team and saw that a few aero components on the car weren’t working the way they should have. So this should be fixed for this weekend.”

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