A deflated Pierre Gasly admitted: “Everything went wrong for us” after a double retirement for BWT Alpine F1 Team in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship round at the British Grand Prix.
For a second time this season both the Alpine A523 cars have failed to cross the checkered flag. The first double non-finish came in the Australian Grand Prix, as team-mates Esteban Ocon and Gasly collided with each other, ending their race immediately.
A double retirement at your home Grand Prix however felt devastating, considering Silverstone is a track where Alpine have had seven consecutive top-eight finishes.
Gasly was on the wrong side of luck the whole race, being forced to retire with a broken suspension following a collision with Lance Stroll.
The French driver was racing in the points position, closely behind Fernando Alonso. However, pitting just one lap before the Safety Car came out meant he lost two positions, falling back outside the points.
Despite fighting to climb back into the top ten, his race was cut short as he and Stroll collided at the Vale chicane, leaving car #10 to limp back to the pits. A clearly disappointed Gasly said, “It really seems we’re on the wrong side of some things at the moment, especially luck. I was having a strong race, closely behind Fernando [Alonso], and we really should have been in the fight with him at the end of the race.
“Unfortunately, the timing of the Safety Car, just after my pit-stop, meant we fell back outside of the points. And then, while fighting to climb back into the top ten, our race was over through an incident beyond my control when Lance [Stroll] hit me and damaged my suspension.
“As a team we have a lot of things to work on to keep taking the fight to our rivals. We will stick together as a team, regroup, and go to Budapest with some confidence for a better result.”
Team-mate Ocon was the first retiree, coming to a stop on lap nine due to a hydraulic leak on the car. An issue out of his control, the Frenchman was more disappointed with the result for the team.
“It’s not been our weekend and that is summed up by our race today. We had a decent start to the race, but it was over early for us with a hydraulic leak on the car. In the end, as a team, we did not score any points which is extremely disappointing.
“We need to regroup and react, especially given the leap some of our competitors have made over the last couple of races. Overall, we probably did not maximise the potential of the car this weekend so there are definitely many things to review to see how we can come back stronger.
“Budapest is next, one of my favourite tracks with some great memories, so we hope to bounce back and have a strong result.”
