Team Talk - Sunday in Jeddah

Alpine

Pierre Gasly

“It’s never a nice feeling to end the race on Lap 1 after an incident. It has been a long time since I had a situation like this and it is a disappointing one for all of us at the team to take. I had a good line into Turn 4, I was aware that Yuki [Tsunoda] was there on the inside and I left enough space while keeping the car inside the white lines. It is an unfortunate outcome with the contact with him but that is racing and just the way it goes sometimes. There are many positives for us to take from the weekend. We know this track, on paper, is not our strongest but we managed to still be competitive and well in the mix for points. That gives us good confidence and we can build on these positives going into the next few races.”

Jack Doohan

“It was a difficult day today and we faced various challenges throughout the race which meant we were not able to progress forward. We took a bold strategy to pit for the Hard tyres under the Safety Car on Lap 1, with the aim to stay out through to the end. Although the car felt comfortable in the corners, we were unable to overtake the cars in front and once we backed off to regroup, we were caught by those behind us once they pitted for fresh tyres on a different strategy. Ultimately, as a result the one stop proved difficult, and we pitted again to reach the end. We have a week off to rest and debrief ahead of Miami. We will spend some time in the simulator in the coming days and work together with the engineers to learn as much as we can from the weekend to continue to unlock more potential from the car.”

Oliver Oakes, Team Principal

“It is disappointing to leave Jeddah without any points, especially with a first lap incident for Pierre given how competitive he has looked all weekend. We took the opportunity to pit Jack on Lap 1 once the Safety Car was deployed and run long. From there we could potentially look at a one stop and run Jack to the end. Ultimately, Jack did not have pace on the Hard tyres, which made it a difficult afternoon. There are positives to take away from the triple-header, particularly with picking up the first points for the team and the performance of the car has been encouraging. We must continue improving and are already looking forward to the next race in Miami.”