Pierre Gasly finished seventh in the Formula 1 Italian GP, and described the result as a great achievement for Alpine. Franco Colapinto also scored points, in ninth, consolidating a positive weekend for the team.
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Gasly considered that Alpine practically reached the maximum possible in the race and highlighted the position as the ‘best of the rest’, at the top of the midfield pack: “Of course we wanted more, but we also need to be realistic, and today’s result is probably the best we could have achieved with what we have now,” he said.
The Frenchman had two good starts and even led a lap before losing ground to rivals. Gasly also highlighted the battle with Lando Norris, winner of the previous two races, and finished just three seconds behind Lewis Hamilton: “There are many positives to take from this weekend and many memories I will keep for a long time,” he said, referring to his first F1 pole position, achieved on Saturday in Monza.
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Colapinto, in turn, left the track frustrated with his own performance. The Argentine reached fourth position after the restart caused by the red flag, but lost ground after going off into the gravel at turn 6 while following Max Verstappen: “I had a big off at the entrance of turn 6 and went deep into the gravel. Fortunately, I avoided the barrier, but the car’s behavior changed after that, so we probably had some damage to the floor,” he added.
Flavio Briatore, the team’s executive consultant, assessed that the weekend represented progress for Alpine, which reduced the gap to Racing Bulls in the championship fight: “The performance we brought to the car in recent races put us in a more competitive position to fight on track,” concluded the manager.
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