Pierre Gasly finished tenth in the Dutch Grand Prix and scored a new point for Alpine. Despite encouraging progress, the Frenchman believes he could have achieved more at Zandvoort.
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Pierre Gasly leaves Zandvoort with mixed feelings. After finishing eighth in the Sprint, the Alpine driver secured tenth place in the Dutch Grand Prix, allowing his team to score two points over the weekend.
An encouraging outcome considering the difficulties Alpine faced in previous rounds, but insufficient to satisfy Gasly. The Frenchman feels he lost far too much time in the pack, especially during his battles with Yuki Tsunoda, Arvid Lindblad, and Nico Hülkenberg.
“I will have to review all that, I lost a lot of time in the middle of the race which was very frustrating. I struggled to get out of the last corner, it was very difficult to overtake.”
Gasly regrets missed opportunities
Starting 11th, Gasly could have hoped to firmly establish himself in the top 10. But several battles significantly slowed his progress, and Hülkenberg ultimately managed to pull away to claim eighth place.
Nevertheless, the Alpine driver held off the Racing Bulls until the end to keep the last available point.
“In the end, I lost a lot of time, I lost a position to Hülkenberg, I lost time to Tsunoda, I don’t know how many seconds but a lot of time. I’m a bit disappointed to leave here with only one point.”
Gasly prefers to focus on the progress made by his team. Alpine now seems capable of regularly competing with midfield teams.
“In recent weekends, we couldn’t fight in this group, and we finished eighth yesterday and tenth today, so that’s positive.”
The Frenchman also admits he was not completely comfortable behind the wheel of his A526 on Sunday, even though the car had new upgrades at Zandvoort.
A particularly chaotic first lap
Gasly also experienced firsthand the spectacular accident of Max Verstappen in the last corner of the first lap. After the showers before the start, this part of the circuit was still particularly wet while all drivers were on slick tires.
The Frenchman himself was surprised by the lack of grip before seeing Verstappen’s Red Bull violently hit the wall.
“The last corner was soaked, everyone was sliding all over the place. Max took a huge hit and went into the wall, I didn’t know where I was supposed to go.”
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Gasly then slowed down significantly to avoid the crashed car, a situation Lindblad took advantage of to pass him before the race was stopped with a red flag.
Alpine closes in on Racing Bulls
Beyond the point scored, the Zandvoort result mainly allows Alpine to continue closing the gap to Racing Bulls in the constructors’ championship. Only three points now separate the two teams.
A battle that has a special meaning for Gasly, who spent several seasons with the Faenza team when it was still known as Toro Rosso and then AlphaTauri.
“We will try to learn, we will fight. It’s a team I know well, they pushed me a bit today so until the end of the year it will be interesting!”
After a difficult first half of the season, Alpine seems to have regained enough performance to join the midfield battle. Gasly now wants to confirm this progress at the next event in Monza.
Colapinto criticizes his penalty
The race was more complicated for Franco Colapinto. The Argentine received a drive-through penalty for overtaking Tsunoda under yellow flags in the chaos following Verstappen’s accident.
A sanction the Alpine driver considers particularly harsh, believing he primarily tried to get out of a dangerous situation.
“I think the penalty was very harsh, it compromised our race and it was very difficult to manage this situation.”
Colapinto feels the stewards should take the context more into account in this type of incident.
“I think they should be more flexible and there should be more consistency, but that’s how it is.”
Alpine thus leaves the Netherlands with regrets but also with confirmation of a resurgence in competitiveness that could make its battle with Racing Bulls particularly lively towards the end of the season.
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