Gasly: Monaco result 'took weight off Alpine shoulders'

Pierre Gasly says Alpine's podium finish and double points result in Monaco last weekend alleviated the pressure on the French squad and "took some weight off the shoulders" of its crews.

Alpine was put on notice, in no uncertain terms, by CEO Laurent Rossi ahead of last month's Miami Grand Prix.

The team collected a decent haul of points in Florida but Esteban Ocon's impressive display in qualifying and on race day in Monte Carlo where he finished third provided a timely boost to the team's stock and credit.

And Gasly noted a definitive shift in the morale of Alpine's troops in the wake of last Sunday's performance.

"I'll say I see more smiles," Gasly said in Barcelona on Thursday. "Usually from past experience, the more people smile, the more efficient they get.

"So I must say I'm pleased for the entire team that we managed to get that result, that it managed to get some weight off their shoulders.

"I don't believe that is going to change anything in their approach, because we're all fighting, we're all pushing to get every everything out of the car that we got.

"Surely, I think it was a general feeling inside the team that we feel like we were not performing as much as we would have hoped at the start of the year.

"And the fact of seeing progression, evolution through these first Grands Prix can really probably like click and kick something within the team in terms of mindset, in terms of confidence, moving forward."

• Read also: Rossi explains reason for scathing Alpine criticism

Last Sunday, Alpine sporting director Alan Permane insisted the team's performance had not been a one-off, and that he expected the outfit's A523 to carry its strength forward.

Gasly echoed the Briton's comments, saying that Alpine's contender had genuinely improved thanks to its most recent developments.

"I think there are so many parameters that come into play," he said.

"We obviously brought new parts in Miami, we had the new upgrades coming in Imola, which we didn't use there, but which we obviously used in Monaco, which made the overall performance better.

"There is more understanding on what's good in the car, what's slightly less good.

"A weekend like Baku was definitely not great to go through, but also we understood more about the package that we had, which made us make different decisions for Monaco, which ultimately helped us to get the result that we had in Monaco.

"So I just feel weekend after weekend we're able to have a stronger package, more consistent, more reliable, more compliant, and more robust."

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