Why Gasly failed to convert Alpine’s best start this year into a points finish · RaceFans

“We had much higher ambitions than finishing outside the points,” admitted Pierre Gasly after taking the chequered flag 12th in yesterday’s race.

Thanks to an upgraded car, a superb qualifying lap and George Russell’s crash, Gasly secured Alpine’s best starting position of the year so far with sixth in the grid. The team’s chances of at least finishing in the points received a further boost when Lewis Hamilton spun out in the other Mercedes on the second lap.

But Gasly’s race went awry once he exchanged the medium rubber he started on for a set of hards. He did so on lap 18, one lap after his closer pursuer, Kevin Magnussen, did the same. Both were doomed to finish outside the points as their teams misread the the race.

Given how quickly the medium rubber dropped off during the sprint race, and the hotter conditions on race day, teams went into the race expecting to pit twice. However the tyres stood up better than expected and the Safety Car period caused by Hamilton’s spin helped teams extend their opening stints.

So after Haas and Alpine brought their best-placed drivers in on consecutive laps there was a pause in pit lane activity. It became clear a one-stopper was the way to go. Haas eventually brought Magnussen in for a second stop, though this appears to have influenced by a pit wall miscommunication.

Alpine left Gasly out. He had already been badly delayed by a slow pit stop, which cost him around four seconds, dropped him behind Magnussen, and cost him the chance to emerge from the pits ahead of Lance Stroll and Alexander Albon. He became stuck behind them, losing even more time, and once he cleared them Magnussen was now 10 seconds up the road.

After the race Gasly said he was “lacking pace on the hard tyre.” Even so, despite his early first pit stop and the fresh set of medium rubber waiting for him in the pits, Alpine decided against bringing him in. A late Safety Car would have been a godsend, but none came, and instead Gasly was passed by the one-stopping Franco Colapinto and Magnussen after the Haas driver’s second stop. That left him a disappointed 12th.

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“We had too many sub-optimal situations throughout the race,” Gasly admitted afterwards. “It looks like our rivals are just that bit quicker at the moment.”

Alpine failed to score a point for the fourth race in a row, but they did prevent Williams from extending…