Pierre Gasly admitted that his final stint in the Las Vegas Grand Prix was a “very painful, long last 25 laps” after suffering excessive graining on his tyres.
The Alpine driver had secured his best starting position of 2023 of fourth in Vegas, but shortly after his sole pit-stop onto the Hard tyre, he dropped rapidly down the order.
From fourth on the grid and running close to the front pack in the opening frays of the Grand Prix, Gasly found himself 11th and out of the points by the time the chequered flag fell.
“The main thing was just that after 5/6 laps I grained the hard tyre and, from there on I just never recovered and it was just a very painful, long last 25 laps,” Gasly said post-race.
“So, obviously frustrating because, the start was great. Started in the right train behind George [Russell] and Charles [Leclerc] not too far ahead, I knew there was, yeah, big, big opportunity on the table, but then, yeah, after on that Hard tyre, it was just a pretty much a nightmare.”
Having started on the Medium tyre, Gasly said that graining on this compound “was easier to manage” than the Hard, with his issues on the latter compound causing confusion.
“I don’t know if it was with the Safety Car, the tyres get cold, you, you start pushing on a very cold compound so, yeah, we need to review,” he added.
“I don’t fully understand why we struggled so much on my car.”
Gasly’s team-mate Esteban Ocon meanwhile was able to convert a 17th-place starting berth into a remarkable fourth-place finish, engaging in a wheel-to-wheel battle with his French compatriot along the way.
Gasly regretted the battle with his teammate “didn’t last longer”, calling it a “shame,” but he was pleased with Alpine’s overall efforts in Vegas.
“But looking at the big picture as a team, I think it’s been a very, very strong weekend,” he expressed. “So that’s what we need to work to build on.
“Strong qualifying, lining up fourth on the grid, Esteban managed to finish fourth, we had good pace throughout the whole weekend. So I think as a team, we can be pleased and just need to understand the few things that didn’t go well.”
Oil on the starting grid dropped by cars used in the driver parade contributed to Fernando Alonso spinning at Turn 1 while Carlos Sainz slid into the path of Lewis Hamilton.
After Sainz called the issue “unacceptable,” Gasly was inclined to agree, saying he’d escalated the problem to the FIA even before the race proceedings had got underway.
“It wasn’t nice, especially lining up on the best spot of the year for us,” Gasly said.
“I’ve discussed it already with the FIA and I’m sure we’ll change a few things because it doesn’t feel really fair that some guys got to start on oil and some others clear tarmac but I’m sure they’ll fix it.”
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