Despite a disappointing season, Pierre Gasly understands and supports Alpine’s decision to completely revamp its Formula 1 concept this year
Although Alpine’s performance has dipped significantly this year, Pierre Gasly understands the technical decision to completely overhaul the Formula 1 car concept for the 2024 season.
After finishing fourth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2022, the Enstone-based team slipped to sixth place last year. It was the year in which Gasly joined as Esteban Ocon’s teammate.
Alpine then decided not to develop the main ideas of the A523 any further in order to open up a new development direction with the A524. However, after the first half of the season, the results have been really poor – with a total of just eleven points and a very distant eighth place in the championship.
Nevertheless, Gasly still believes that the decision made at the time to change the concept was justified. “I think it’s performance-related. Unfortunately, the team felt last year that they had reached the end of the road with their car concept.”
“Since we missed our targets, the question was do we want to go into another year knowing we’re probably going to stay where we are? And they said we want more than that, so let’s try something different.”
“That was the right decision from my point of view,” emphasizes Gasly. “We are not in Formula 1 to be satisfied with sixth place in the constructors’ championship. “
However, Alpine’s hopes were dashed, and at the moment even seventh place, where the Haas team currently sits, seems illusory. However, Gasly is confident in the work being done at Enstone and the potential for improvement to perform better in the coming months and create a more solid base for 2025.
“Unfortunately, the directions they’ve taken with the car concept this year haven’t paid off,” he says, “but I still think the way the team is working is at a better level than when I arrived.”
“So it’s about getting that performance into the car, which is obviously not easy, but I know we already have good directions for next season that will put us in a better position,” Gasly says optimistically.
“And with the processes and the people who have built and developed them, I have a feeling that something good will come out of it,” he concludes.