Pierre Gasly finished in the points yet again after finishing in ninth place at the Austrian Grand Prix, whereas team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had a horrible afternoon at the Red Bull Ring. The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda rookie finished in twelfth.
Gasly was one of the few drivers who started the race on the soft tyres after opting for a two-stop strategy. The Frenchman who started sixth found himself playing catch up for the majority of the race. Gasly was surrounded by drivers who were going for the one-stop, meaning that after his second stop he was stuck behind the one-stop runners.
It may not have been as good a finish as Gasly was hoping, for but the Frenchman is yet again in the points, helping increase his personal points tally.
“I think today was harder than we imagined, but the good thing is we’re consistently scoring points. We thought we would benefit more from the two-stop strategy, but we struggled more than expected on the Softs at the start of the race.
“There are some positives to take away though and we still showed some strong pace out there. We’re continuing to battle at the top of the midfield but it’s disappointing to not be finishing further up the grid today. We’ll review all the data tonight and then look forward to Silverstone, which is a track I love.”
“Tyre management was really tricky” – Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda had a race to forget. The rookie who started in an impressive seventh was also on a two-stop strategy, meaning that he too was playing catch-up throughout the race. This wasn’t Tsunoda’s only problem however, the Japanese driver crossed the white line on pit entry for both his stops, resulting in two, five-second time penalties.
It leaves Tsunoda with plenty to review before the British Grand Prix, where he will hope not to make the same mistake.
“It’s been a difficult day for me. I struggled with pace during the race and tyre management was really tricky. My Qualifying was good yesterday so it’s frustrating, but we need to go away and review the issues from today, so we don’t make the same mistakes again next time out in Silverstone.”
