For Pierre Gasly, the Belgian Grand Prix was torture: The problems the Alpine driver had to contend with and what team boss Bruno Famin had to say about it
Pierre Gasly’s frustration was clear to see after the Belgian Grand Prix: The Alpine driver was fighting with blunt weapons on the Ardennes rollercoaster at Spa. His A524 was not fast enough on the straights and the steering was bent, which meant he only finished 14th in the end
“It was just very frustrating, because I’ve had a lot of problems over the last three weekends,” Gasly recalls of his difficulties at Silverstone and Budapest. Things didn’t go any better at Spa. “It was just terrible on the straights. It was only supposed to be a few kilometers per hour, but I lost seven tenths every lap because the engine temperature was a problem.”
And that was by no means the only problem Gasly had to contend with at the Belgian GP! “The steering was crooked the whole race, we chose the wrong strategy, we simply make too many mistakes as a team,” the Alpine driver also criticized his Alpine crew.
“It was a difficult start to the season,” sums up Gasly, who is 15th in the overall standings. “We scored ten points in the first part of the year. We have to do much better in the second half of the year. “
Galsy grumbles about car and team
What are Alpine’s problems? “The engine is one of the few you can rely on,” says Gasly, criticizing almost the entire car and even his team. Because the Frenchman’s strategy didn’t work out at Spa. “I think we had a plan, but we need to find out why we had it. We want to improve that. “
There is a lot to talk about at Alpine at the moment. Bruno Famin will no longer be team boss after the summer break. “I think the goals are clear as a team,” says Gasly. “There have been some changes and a lot of discussions that we can build on at home.”
“As I said yesterday, I want to thank Bruno for his work and the transparency and honesty he has shown during our time together. It’s not the whole team that changes. “
Famin: “Big step forward “
And what does Famin say? Despite his farewell, the conclusion of his last race as Alpine team boss is positive. “We end the first half of the season with an important point here at Spa,” said the Frenchman, alluding to Esteban Ocon’s tenth place, who moved up to ninth after Russell’s disqualification and thus scored two points.
The Frenchman’s best result of the season! “It was a tough race with interesting set-up and strategy decisions,” commented Famin on the Alpine team’s strategy decision. “From the start of the season to now, we have clearly made a big step forward.”
“It has been a turbulent 2024 season so far, but one in which we have dug deep as a team and have been able to correct and drastically improve the performance of our car,” says the still Team Principal, who has probably forgotten that Gasly has now failed to score points three times in a row after a good intermediate spurt.
“We have introduced a good upgrade here at Spa and there is more in the pipeline for the rest of the year. We’ll keep building, keep learning and now we’re looking forward to the well-deserved summer break.” An opinion that Gasly is unlikely to share…
