Pierre Gasly admitted after the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that his team is going through a very difficult time.
Alpine went from P4 in the Championship in 2022 to P6 in 2023. Going into 2024, the French team planned significant changes to their car in hopes of catching up with the top five teams, but it backfired.
Alpine found out during the pre-season testing that their car is not working as they hoped it would, and at the moment, the team is last in the Championship.
Pierre Gasly, who we know is a talented driver, couldn't bring his Alpine out of Q1 during the first two qualifying sessions of the year. Moreover, he had to retire his car in Saudi Arabia after just one lap. He explained what happened to the media:
"I lost sixth gear, then lost synchronization of all the other gears, and at the start, I had no gears which were synchronized."
"The highest that I could go was fifth and so we had to retire, and I am disappointed for the team because we are going through a difficult time."
The French driver discovered it and reported the problem during the formation lap but tried to start the race. After he lost a couple of seconds in just one lap, it was clear there was no purpose in continuing.
"The laps to the grid were fine, but on the formation lap, the first time I engaged sixth gear, I just lost it completely, so we need further investigation, but it just wasn't our weekend."
At the moment, Alpine seems to be stuck with a car that is even slower than the one they had before the winter break. Nevertheless, the 28-year-old applauded his team for the work he sees everyone putting in. He added:
"But I can see how much effort and energy everyone is putting in to make improvements and make things better."
"We don't really get the reward of it at the moment, so it is not easy but we'll keep our head high and keep working to find the performance."
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