Williams ‘not a slow car anymore’, concedes Gasly

Pierre Gasly is expecting a difficult Dutch Grand Prix after being outqualified by both Williams cars on Saturday.

Gasly was only able to qualify 12th, and will start the Dutch Grand Prix directly behind 10th placed Logan Sargeant. Alex Albon was able to drag his FW45 to the second row of the grid in fourth.

While Williams sit some 46 points behind Alpine in the Constructor’s Standings, Gasly has conceded that the team has made some significant progress since the beginning of the 2023 Formula 1 campaign.

“Williams is not a slow car anymore. I think we all agree that they’ve clearly made a massive step forward,” the Frenchman told the media after qualifying.

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“They’re extremely quick in the straights, they didn’t used to be so fast in the corners but when you are fast in the straights and decent in the corners you end up having a pretty quick race car.

“They’re a pain to race as well and we’ve got two of them ahead of us for tomorrow so it’s not going to make our life easier but I must say this weekend they’ve been very strong.

“In a way [it’s] not fully surprising because I think the last few weekends we always put them roughly where they are at the moment. We know they’re much more competitive this year but clearly to push both cars in Q3 was quite impressive.”

Gasly found himself stuck behind Albon last time out in Spa, but was eventually able to pass the Williams around the outside of the Fagnes chicane. Alpine will be hoping to avoid a repetition of Spa’s events, and avoid getting caught behind either Albon or Sargeant.

“We do consider Williams slightly differently in our strategy than other cars because they have such an advantage in straight line speed that you don’t want to be stuck behind one of them like I was in Spa,”  Gasly revealed.

“But, it’s racing, and if it happens then you need to find another way. That’s why we ended up with a nice overtake on the outside in Spa. But, I must say there are other cars slightly easier to race than them.”

Both Gasly and his teammate, Esteban Ocon, have endured a tough weekend at Zandvoort so far. Gasly said he was “frustrated” after failing to make the top 10 in qualifying, but has targeted points in the race as Alpine seek to turn around its season.

“It’s not the end of the world, we’re 12th, we’ll fight tomorrow and I’m quite confident we can make it back to the top 10 but it’s just these fine details which we need to improve,” he said.