Gasly Admits Alpine Doesn't Fully Understand Brazil GP Pace Boost
Pierre Gasly's strong showing at the Brazil GP, including scoring sprint points and a top-10 qualifying, has left Alpine puzzled, as the team admits it doesn't fully understand the reasons behind their sudden pace improvement. This unexpected performance, a stark contrast to their season-long struggles, raises critical questions about car setup and track specificities that Alpine is now urgently investigating.
Pierre Gasly delivered a surprisingly strong performance at the F1 Brazil Grand Prix, scoring a point in the sprint race with an eighth-place finish and qualifying ninth for Sunday's main event. Despite this impressive showing, Gasly admitted that Alpine doesn't fully understand the reasons behind their sudden uplift in pace, a stark contrast to their disappointing season.
Why it matters:
Alpine has endured a challenging 2024 season, languishing at the bottom of the championship standings with no Grand Prix points since July. Gasly's unexpected performance in Brazil, just a tenth off fourth-placed Oscar Piastri in Q3, offers a glimmer of hope and raises critical questions about the team's understanding of their car's true potential and weaknesses. Unraveling this mystery is crucial for their 2025 and 2026 development.
The details:
- Unexpected Turnaround: Gasly finished eighth in the sprint race and qualified ninth for Sunday's Grand Prix, a significant improvement from his previous outing in Mexico where he was a lap behind the leaders.
- Performance Gap: In Mexico, Gasly was blue-flagged by Ferrari; just two weeks later in Brazil, he finished only three seconds behind a Ferrari in the sprint race, highlighting the dramatic shift in performance.
- Team's Uncertainty: Gasly openly stated that the team has "a lot of questions, not many answers" regarding the sudden pace increase. He expressed hope for more clarity in the coming weeks.
- Track Characteristics vs. Car Improvements: While Gasly believes track characteristics play a factor, he doesn't think it's the sole reason for the improvement, indicating a deeper mystery within the car's setup or dynamics at Interlagos.
- Previous Similarities: Gasly drew parallels to earlier in the year when he qualified fifth in Bahrain, only for Alpine's performance to regress as updates failed to deliver and development shifted focus to 2026.
- Teammate's Struggles: In contrast to Gasly, teammate Franco Colapinto had a difficult Saturday, crashing out of the sprint and qualifying 18th for the Grand Prix, further complicating the understanding of Alpine's performance.
What's next:
Alpine's engineering team will be meticulously analyzing all available data from Brazil to pinpoint the exact factors that contributed to Gasly's pace. Understanding whether this performance was a track-specific anomaly or a breakthrough in car setup will be critical for their future development direction. Without clear answers, the team faces an uphill battle to consistently compete at higher levels in upcoming seasons and ensure their 2025 and 2026 car designs are based on sound understanding.