A race to forget for Pierre Gasly

The Frenchman retired after a race spoiled by contact with Daniel Ricciardo on the restart after the safety car. A huge disappointment.

Published on 29/03/2021 à 10:45

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He had made the almost perfect qualification. Pierre Gasly rushed into fifth position on the grid with a car fitted with medium tyres, which gave him a strategic advantage over his neighbors equipped with soft tires which wear out quickly. Fourth place was within shooting distance.

More the euphoria only lasted one full round, after the relaunch of the safety car following the accident of Nikita mazepin (Haas). In the winding part of the Bahrain route, Gasly misjudged the distance which separated his Alpha Tauri for the McLaren de Daniel Ricciardo Et al hit the Australian's car, heavily damaging his fin.

Argh.. got surprised and made contact into T5 with Dan, lost my front wing which damaged the floor and that was it. Disappointed as our pace looked strong all weekend for some good points. Lots of positives to take from this weekend, looking forward to Imola now. pic.twitter.com/YM0ImFi2rn

— PIERRE GASLY (@PierreGASLY) March 28, 2021

After stopping to replace the broken part, Gasly found himself at one minute from the peloton. The absence of a safety car during the rest of the event did not allow a return. “Plus, the accident damaged the flat bottom, so we had no pace. And to top it off at the end of the race we had other problems so I had to abandon, adds the Frenchman, very disappointed.

Honestly, I'm nervous because we had the performance all weekend, we had the possibility of fighting with the McLarens and the Ferrari. We missed some big points today. »

If the disappointment is legitimate, Gasly will be able to draw positives from this weekend. As shown by his qualification and ninth place in Yuki tsunoda, starting 13th, the AlphaTauri is very competitive and will be able to jostle with the mid-grid teams, behind the untouchables Red Bull et Mercedes.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Bahrain Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondent in Sakhir, in issue 2305 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.