Otmar Szafnauer: “Gasly still needs time”

In the transfer dance before the start of the 2023 season, Pierre Gasly found himself on the arm ofAlpine. New to the French structure who had not planned to see his pair change for this campaign, he seems to be on an equal footing with his teammate and compatriot, Esteban Ocon. But twice, the new recruit defected fromAlpha Tauri experienced difficulties in qualifying.

After a surprising elimination in Q1 of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the Normand narrowly passed to lift his A523 into tenth place. A necessary adaptation time, coupled with performance of the car blue and pink still difficult to assess. “ He's new, and he still needs time, assures Otmar Szafnauer, director of the stable shared between enstone and Viry-Châtillon. He feels good in the team, he appreciates his engineers and mechanics, and it's mutual. »

« It's fast, but it will take time to get the most out of the car and continue settling in with us, observes the American, reassured by his driver who finished in 9th position when the checkered flag passed. I spoke to him after the last race and he said “listen, give me a pair of Grands Prix and I'll find the missing tenths”. »

Tenths to be found on the driver side… but also on the team side. If the French structure reassured its fans by regularly affirming the fact that its car still had something under the pedal, Alpine is positioned more like the fifth force on the board currently. However, the objectives are clear: not to go below fourth position in the Manufacturers, won last year… while reducing the gap with the leading group. But the leaders now count Aston Martin and his immense leap forward in performance, thus relegating the French to the middle of the table.

By his own admission, Gasly admits thatAlpine is located in a “ no man's land », with a performance below expectations and assumptions. But he does not lose hope of fighting higher on the grid in the Grands Prix to come, and in particular from the Australian event in Melbourne, from March 31 to April 2.

ALSO READ > According to Pierre Gasly, Alpine finds himself “in a no man’s land”