Team Talk – Sunday in São Paulo

Alpine

Pierre Gasly

“While I am happy to score another point today, I am a little disappointed that we did not score more as it felt the car had more pace than what we were able to show. I think having better track position earlier in the race might have benefitted us at the end. Still, no complaints, we score one point, which we will definitely take given our level at recent races and we will look into the data to see what we could have done differently and improve for next time. I was battling Isack [Hadjar] for most of the race. Twice I overtook him into Turn 1 and twice he got me back on the run to Turn 4. One of those tight battles which could have gone either way.

"At the end, it was just trying to hang on for the final point which was close at the end. It's been a very good weekend overall where we have been inside the top ten in every session. Brazil does seem to treat me well! Now we will have a short rest, a day of preparation at Enstone before we take on the final triple header to finish off the season.”

Franco Colapinto

“It was always going to be a difficult race from where we started, and it turned out to be a long afternoon managing tyres and running in dirty air. The rain which was around in the morning disappeared and everybody ran a similar race, with most people on two-stops. So, ultimately, we finished basically where we started and weren't able to make much progress. After the Sprint race and the full car rebuild, we just seemed to struggle a bit more and never recovered the same feeling or rhythm in the car. It didn't feel as planted and there was more sliding. This also meant we were fighting degradation a bit more on the tyres today and had to manage them during the race.

"We have a lot to review and will try to come back stronger in Las Vegas and try to finish the year on a positive note. Overall, we hoped for more from this weekend on track. The fans were amazing, as they always are at this race, and I could really feel their energy. Also, well done to the team and Pierre for picking up another point, which is another nice boost for the team."

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director

“It's another point on the board and a race where we were competitive relative to some of the midfield cars who have been much faster than us all season. Pierre did an outstanding job to put himself in contention with a battling drive and one where he had to be strong in offense and resolute in defence, especially at the end of the race to cling on to that final point.

"Franco too showed spells of strong pace with his final stint bringing him back into the train of cars which finished in single file right up to the finish line for the points-paying positions. It's a weekend where we must dig deep into the numbers to understand why we had an upturn in performance. There are, of course, some areas we must improve, and will improve, and we have three races remaining to close off the season. We can take some confidence to Las Vegas and hopefully put ourselves in the mix again.”