Pierre Gasly says his podium in last Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix has only further improved the positive energy surrounding the Alpine team.
While Gasly claimed a top-three finish in Saturday's sprint event at Spa last month, his run to third at Zandvoort was his first genuine podium with the Enstone squad.
It was not only a well-managed effort by the Frenchman who was helped by his team's strong execution, it was also a timely result given the disruption suffered by Alpine's crews in the wake of the outfit's well-chronicled management changes.
"I must say, I am still feeling ecstatic from last Sunday’s race!" said Gasly in Alpine's Italian Grand Prix preview.
"It was an incredible race, so up and down with the changing weather conditions and one of those races where you have to remain calm at the wheel.
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"On our side, it was fantastic. We made some bold decisions, executed everything very well and came away with a deserved result.
"On the grid, we all knew there was a chance of rain for a short amount of time, it was just very difficult to judge the intensity of it and therefore we all opted for dry tyres for the race start.
"Then after a long period of dry weather, the rain returned and again we had to be ready to make the right decisions, which we did.
©Alpine
The entire team deserves this result and it was a great feeling for me to see the faces of everyone after the race in celebration and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at Enstone and Viry in the coming weeks.
"I hope this serves as a confidence booster for all of us and hopefully we can have more results like this.
"It was the first weekend of a couple of changes to the trackside team and everything worked pretty well.
"There’s a positive energy in the garage – made even better by the podium – and we all now look forward to Monza."
Next weekend's round of racing at Monza's legendary Temple of Speed will be a home race of sorts for Gasly, given that the Alpine charger is a resident of the nearby city of Milan.
But the venue was also the scene of his incredible upset win Scuderia AlphaTauri with in 2020.
"I have spent a lot of my life in Italy and now I live in Milan, so of course, it’s a very special place for me," he said.
"The Italian Grand Prix is a semi home race for me since I stay at home for the race weekend, so that is very nice!
"Monza is the place of my first win in Formula 1 in 2020 and I have very fond memories of that. It was a truly special day and one I will remember forever.
"That was a few years ago now, and the target is to one day repeat that result, but, in the meantime, we will remain realistic on what is possible this weekend.
"It will be a challenging weekend but we have some confidence and momentum right now. We’ll work hard in our preparation, aim for a solid Friday and tee ourselves up for a strong weekend from there."
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