Pierre Gasly says the BWT Alpine F1 Team will need to learn and understand why they were so far off the pace during the Italian Grand Prix weekend, with fifteenth the best result possible at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
With top speed a major factor in being strong at Monza, Alpine were hindered by their underpower Renault power unit, which is said to be around 30bhp down on their rivals, and neither Gasly nor team-mate Esteban Ocon were able to bring themselves into top ten contention at any point.
Gasly admitted that he expected the team to struggle in Italy, but despite this, it was still a disappointing weekend for everyone at Alpine, particularly as he finished on the podium just seven days previously in the Dutch Grand Prix.
“It’s been super painful,” Gasly is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “I don’t think we have ever had such a lack of competitiveness compared to our rivals.
“We knew straight away from the start of the season that it would be a painful one. But yeah, it was clearly very difficult out there.
“The most important thing is really to understand and quantify where that drop of performance is coming from and come back next year with a stronger package. Because I’m going past Carlos [Sainz Jr.] last week on track, same tyres, on pure pace, and this weekend he’s standing on the podium, and I’m almost a lap down.
“We knew it’s a very power-sensitive track, but still, it seems like it’s not only [that], it’s the whole package, which has got to be better for this track.”
Gasly hopes Alpine can show better pace in the upcoming races that are not so power reliant, and with updates also coming to the A523, he is confident of returning to the top ten.
“I think we will have another update coming quite soon,” added the Frenchman. “There is a clear trend in terms of the type of tracks where we are more and less competitive.
“And I think that’s something we need to work on for next year, to just have a package, more rounded package which works everywhere.”
