It was a disappointing Sunday afternoon at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve for the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda Team, with Pierre Gasly bringing home a single point for the Italian outfit.
The team looked off the pace all weekend and Sunday was no different, with Gasly going as far as saying a single point was a positive from what was a challenging grand prix. Gasly struggled with rear grip so was unable to keep up with Charles Leclerc early on, but he managed to overtake Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz Jnr. right at the end, to bring home tenth place, adding a single point to their constructors tally.
Gasly is already looking ahead to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, a track which should hopefully suit the AlphaTauri better.
“Honestly, today was really difficult – it wasn’t the race we wanted but, to be honest, it was what we expected. We’ve really struggled here across the weekend, only just making it through to the top 10 in Qualifying, so I think to come away with a point is positive.”
“I was happy at the start of the race as I was managing to follow Charles, but ultimately we lacked pace – due to having no grip in the low-speed corners – and in the end I think it was great to pass Carlos to get a point for the team. I think the circuit in Barcelona will suit our car more, as it’s a much faster track, so I’m hoping that we’ll perform better there in a few days’ time.“
“It was really tough today” – Tsunoda
It was an even more challenging grand prix for rookie Yuki Tsunoda, who failed to show his early season promise at a track which has clearly been a struggle for AlphaTauri.
Tsunoda brought the car home in fifteenth and like the majority of the grid, struggled with rear grip. In similar style to Gasly however the young driver is already looking ahead to this weekend’s grand prix to get back to where he should be.
“It was really tough today, I had no grip at the beginning of the race and there was just no pace at all for me out there. I’ve struggled all weekend with the balance of the car, the conditions haven’t helped, but everyone has been driving the same track so we just need to analyse the data, to see what didn’t work for us here in Portugal, and learn from it ahead of next weekend in Spain.”
