Pierre Gasly (P16): 5.5/10
The current problems at Alpine seem to be taking their toll on Pierre Gasly, who is increasingly struggling to match the pace of his team mate Esteban Ocon. He was the slowest of the Alpine pair in both of the dry practice sessions, and missed the first cut in qualifying while Ocon scraped through to the second round. It's the fourth time in the first four races of 2024 that Gasly has been out-qualified by Ocon. Worse was to come: at the restart following the Albon/Ricciardo accident and red flag, Gasly found himself sandwiched between Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda, resulting in damage to both Alpines that effectively prevented them from showing their true pace for the rest of the afternoon. Instead, they were left sparring with Logan Sargeant until the Williams ran off into the gravel. Ocon was still the quicker of the pair and finished ahead of Gasly, although both were a lap off the leaders in an accurate reflection of the team's generally poor pace right now.
Esteban Ocon (P15): 6/10
Esteban Ocon had the better weekend of the two Alpine drivers. He was quicker than Pierre Gasly in practice, qualifying and the race, but his pace on Sunday was compromised by the floor damage he received in the unfortunate contact with Gasly at the restart that followed a lengthy red flag stoppage. "It was unfortunate to pick up damage, but I don't think it made a huge difference to the overall picture of the race," Ocon admitted afterward. "After we picked up that damage at the start we tried some different strategy options to give us a fighting chance. But, ultimately, we were not quick enough today to compete with those around us." There's not really much more we can add to that, except to ponder how long it will take the French team to claw its way out of its current despond.
