General
Gasly in points on debut for Alpine: "Was so upset last night"
- GPblog.com
Pierre Gasly had a disappointing qualifying session. He drove the 17th time and, because that time was taken away due to track limits, even had to start from the last place altogether. A day later, Gasly handled his Alpine car a lot better. From P20, he managed to climb up to ninth place.
"I to start on the right foot with Alpine and we did it. An amazing recovery," Gasly said in Bahrain to GPblog and others. The Frenchman knew his bolide would perform better in the longruns. "I knew we had a lot more pace than we showed yesterday. It was important to make it up today. I had a lot of fun. It was a great start and gives us some good hopes for coming races."
Saturday did not go as hoped and that was eating away at the 27-year-old driver. "I was so upset last night that there is no other way than getting points tomorrow otherwise I'd be pissed for two weeks. I think we knew that top four would be slightly out of reach even if we had qualified in our position." Of the teams in the midfield, Gasly only had to beat the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas. "I would've gotten Bottas with a better qualifying. It was the best recovery from P20."
Gasly happy with first weekend
Gasly speaks of a perfect debut. "I think so. First race with a new team is always tricky. Not as comfortable with the entire team. It was important to start on the right foot and happy with the way we have been working so far. We know what we have to improve. Looking forward to Saudi Arabia," he concluded.