Pierre Gasly says he enjoyed in Austin his “best weekend” so far this season with Alpine, but insists the Enstone squad must build on its progress for next season.
Gasly left Texas with a healthy bag of points after finishing seventh in Saturday’s sprint event and sixth in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
The 27-year-old, who qualified seventh for delivered a solid race to finish P8 on the road. However, he gained two positions in the final standings in the wake of the exclusions of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
“I think we identified very quickly [in practice] what didn’t work so well on the car and made the right changes,” Gasly explained, quoted by Racefans.net.
“So, I’m very pleased in terms of work and performance and extracting the maximum out of the package. I think that was probably the best weekend so far this year and that’s why we need to build on it for next season.”
As he rolled onto the grid at The Circuit of the Americas determined to play the long game and make the most of his car’s potential, Gasly opted not to force the issue at the start,
The Frenchman fell from P7 to P10 on the opening lap, but eventually settled in eighth position where he would spend the remainder of his afternoon.
“There were just some pretty aggressive guys out there,” he noted. “I knew I had to keep my nose clean because we had the pace today and there was no point to risk everything in the first lap, so I think it paid off.
“I managed to get the best result in both races. I was P7 yesterday, P8 today [later P6] and the car ahead of us is the Mercedes of George, which also finished in P2 with Lewis [Hamilton] in both races.
“We know we are not there yet to fight with these guys, so I must say I’m pleased with the way we’ve executed the whole weekend and from the team I think it’s probably our most complete weekend so far this season.”
Despite the inner turmoil experienced by Alpine last summer following its management shake-up and its inconsistent results on the track, Gasly believes that his team is making some “very good progress”.
“I think it’s about the processes and the way that we’re working and trying to improve in all different areas: analysis, reviews, feedbacks, reactivity,” he said.
“There’s definitely some very good progress happening so I’m very pleased with the way we’re working.
“This is not perfect, there’s still things we can improve. But I think the main focus is just trying to find a package which is stronger and with more potential than what we have at the moment to close the gap with the guys ahead of us.”
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