Pierre Gasly is facing an unexplained drop in performance at Alpine, despite a solid and consistent start to the season.
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Pierre Gasly is going through an unusual phase within the Alpine team. While he had perfectly started his season with several points finishes, the French driver now says he is facing a deeper problem that suddenly affects his feeling behind the wheel.
The contrast is all the more striking as his start to the year showed some stability. In five races, Gasly had managed to score points on four occasions, confirming his role as a leader within the team. Yet, since the Miami Grand Prix, something seems to have unexpectedly deteriorated.
A sudden and misunderstood loss of performance
The Miami weekend had already been revealing of a significant incident for the Frenchman, who suffered a spectacular accident after contact on track. But beyond this episode, it is especially the overall feeling in the car that began to deteriorate.
In Montreal, Gasly once again expressed his incomprehension towards a car that has become difficult to exploit. According to him, the problems are not limited to setup adjustments or recent upgrades.
“Since Miami, on my side, we are completely off the mark” he confided to the media, referring to a situation difficult to explain even for the team.
He describes a car that has become unpredictable in several key phases: braking, corner entry, and re-acceleration. A general loss of grip that makes exploiting the Alpine’s potential extremely complicated.
A “fundamental” problem at the heart of the questions
What worries Gasly particularly is the lack of a clear explanation. Internal data shows inconsistencies that the team is still struggling to interpret.
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The driver insists that the problem does not seem to be linked only to configuration choices or specific parts fitted on the car.
“There is clearly something fundamental that has stopped working since Miami” he explained, emphasizing that engineers are actively working to identify the source of the problem.
According to him, analyses carried out at the factory confirm that some data do not match usual expectations, without a precise cause having been identified yet.
A management race and hope for a quick answer
Despite these difficulties, Gasly still managed to bring back a decent result with an eighth place in Canada, achieved more in a damage limitation logic than pure performance.
The driver acknowledges that the situation remains frustrating but prefers to focus on the work ahead to understand the origin of this performance drop.
“We clearly see on the data that something is happening, but we don’t know yet why” he added, determined to regain normal feelings as soon as possible.
The goal is now clear for Alpine: to analyze the technical elements in depth to correct what disrupts the car’s functioning. A crucial step to hope to revive the positive momentum from the start of the season.
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