Pierre Gasly has criticised his AlphaTauri team after his early exit in Q1: The Frenchman failed to cross the line in time after the red flag
Pierre Gasly was mightily miffed after qualifying at Monaco and has criticised his AlphaTauri team. That’s because after finishing sixth, seventh and fifth in the three free practices, everything looked like a super weekend for the Frenchman, but now Gasly is down to 17th on the grid ahead of the race.
“I’m extremely disappointed and I can’t put into words how I feel right now,” said Gasly after his Q1 exit.
The AlphaTauri driver had not made it across the finish line in time to start another lap after the red flagin the first section, leaving him to sit idly by and watch his rivals gain ground after the restart and send him under the infamous dash.
“It was very close,” he says. “There were a lot of cars in front of us. Yuki was in front of me and made it by a second. I tried to stay as close as possible without starting in his gearbox – but we missed it. “
“Our mistakes cost us a lot “
“I just don’t understand some of the decisions we made,” he criticised his team. “We decided to do only two laps. When I finished my second lap I was fourth, fifth and everything was good. Everyone else stayed out, but we came in. And after the red flag we came out of the pit lane late. “
Tsunoda clips the barrier on the entry to the Nouvelle Chicane and it triggers a red flag
The session will resume shortly with just under three minutes to goMonacoGP F1 pic.twitter.com/JWWiFPJkbb
– Formula 1 (@F1) May 28, 2022
“Our mistakes are costing us a lot and weekend after weekend it’s very disappointing for everyone in the team,” he said. “The conclusion is that we are not doing a good enough job at the moment. We have a car that we can finish fifth or sixth with. And I don’t understand how we can end up in such a position then.”
He includes himself in the criticism: “It’s about us as a team. We are not doing a good job,” he clarifies. “I’m not singling anyone out here. The team is doing its best, I’m doing my best, but things like this shouldn’t happen. We have to do better. “
Gasly puzzled: Why was there red at all?
At the same time, Gasly also finds the red flag itself questionable, as Tsunoda had made it back to the pits under his own power after his guardrail contact at the harbour chicane. “I don’t understand why it was there,” he says. “But at the end of the day, you can argue that the red flag was there for everyone and everyone had equal track time.”
“And we just weren’t on the track. And if you’re not on the track, you can’t do a lap time. “
Gasly is definitely one of the disappointed in the 2022 Formula One season. He has just six points to his name and has been waiting for points since Melbourne. But he denies that he is looking elsewhere for next year after the next setback and criticism of the team.
“No, it doesn’t mean anything,” he clarifies. “It just means that I want us to perform. I’m doing my best to do that, but at the moment we can question some decisions. But I hope we will turn that off in the coming races. “
