"Unfortunately something different doesn't mean something good" - A despondent Pierre Gasly after the F1 Imola GP

Pierre Gasly believes the soft tire strategy backfired on him during the 2024 Imola GP. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda, the Frenchman reckoned that the Alpine car lacked the pure pace to surge through the grid during the race.

Opting to start on a soft tire, Pierre Gasly started the race 15th on the grid. After eight laps on the soft compound, he had to make a pitstop to change to hard tires which he managed for a further 30 laps. On lap 39, the 28-year-old made a switch to the medium tire but was not enough to aid him further up the grid and he had to settle for the 16th spot.

Explaining the strategy, he admitted that the race was tough and the strategy backfired. He also believes that their underwhelming car performance does not allow them to fight for points on pure pace and that they have to rely on incidents and safety car scenarios to open up opportunities, which were none in the Imola race.

Asked by Sportskeeda if the Imola GP was a frustrating race for him, Pierre Gasly replied:

“Yeah I mean tough. We wanted to do something different, but unfortunately something different doesn’t mean that it’s something good. We wanted to do something different, but unfortunately, something different doesn’t mean that it’s something good. So I think we just missed a couple of things which we need to review in order to anticipate a bit better next time.”

Asked if starting on the hard tire was the better strategy, he said:

“Yes, but with hindsight, you are always smarter, so it’s always easy to say that after the race, but it was a better choice I think. But also we’re fighting with the car, which at the moment doesn’t allow us to be on pure pace in the points, so it forces us to try something a bit out of the box, hoping that things happen, safety car etc. It was a very normal race and on top of that I think there were a few things which we didn’t really anticipate, which cost us quite a lot of time.”

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Pierre Gasly felt the Imola GP weekend was shaping up well for him until the main race

Pierre Gasly felt the entire race weekend was positive until the main race where his strategy fell apart. He believes the DRS train did not help either, but felt Alpine needed to review the race performance at large. The French team were in a good position last year at Monaco where Esteban Ocon collected a third-place podium. However, with the recent changes in the team and an underwhelming car, a podium finish seems to be a long way off.

Summarising the Imola GP weekend, Pierre Gasly said:

“Honestly the whole weekend until today [Sunday] I was really happy. I think there was definitely in terms of feeling and consistency a good step forward. Unfortunately yesterday was just you know, hided with the fact that in that lap in Q2 I went off, but apart from that lap, the rest of the weekend was very strong compared to the first weekend. So, I felt it was definitely positive.”

“In a DRS train and you’re on the gearbox of everyone, it’s always going to feel worse. So I felt like we made a small step backwards. But yeah, I think we need to review the big picture and consider everything. We know we’re not in a strong position to score points. We need certain circumstances to happen at the moment, but overall, I do feel we are making small steps forward.”

Out of contract by the end of 2025, Pierre Gasly is under pressure to deliver performances against his teammate. At the moment, he has been beaten consistently for seven races in a row in both qualifying and race results.

Alpine are at the bottom of the constructors' championship in eighth place having scored only one point so far. The only teams yet to score a point are Sauber and Williams F1 team. Despite their upgrades in Miami, Alpine are a long way off from being able to improve their car to sixth place which they secured in the constructors' championship last year with 120 points.