Alpine pushing upgrades to fix F1 car as rivals “not going to sleep”

The A524’s poor form soon became apparent in testing, and Gasly qualified last in Sakhir, a place behind team-mate Esteban Ocon.

Both men struggled for pace throughout the race, and they eventually finished 17th and 18th, beating only Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant, both of whom suffered lengthy delays.

Along with a disappointing on-track performance the team has also been hit by the news of the resignations and impending departures of technical director Matt Harman and aero chief Dirk de Beer.

Gasly believes that the team can develop the A524 and address its issues in the coming weeks. However he expects only limited progress to be made for the upcoming Saudi Arabian GP, and knows that other teams won’t be standing still either.

“We need time because next week is exactly the same car,” he said. “We’ve still got a couple of days, and I’m sure the guys will find certain things to improve the package we have. But as much as the other guys, they’re not going to sleep, obviously.

“I’m sure there’s a few things we can do to find a couple hundredths out of that package. But to see us back in the points and fighting with these guys ahead of us is going to take us a good few weeks. I know the guys will try to bring these upgrades as fast as they can.”

He remains optimistic about the prospects of the team getting to the bottom of the problems with the launch spec car, citing the right “mentality” of the staff.

“I think about the talent, 500 people that are behind me,” he said. “And no one’s enjoying, no one’s enjoying. No one’s doing racing to be P18 and P17. And we all want to find solutions. We’ve all got to work as hard as we can.

“And the time will tell, but it might be a good thing for us to find even more potential within our group and within our team. We’re aware of the situation, we’re aware of the limitation. Everyone wants to find solutions.

“And I see the mentality is the right one inside the team. But you don’t find solutions overnight on these cars. You need more than that. And that’s why we have to be patient.”

Gasly’s Bahrain race was made more difficult by an issue with the left front wheelgun, which cost time at his first stop, and also delayed his second stop slightly.

“I think it was as we expected,” he said when asked about his race by Motorsport.com. “Qualified on the last row and finished at the back of the field. I think we still tried to maximize…