Gasly slammed Alpine’s grip problems after the team failed to score points in Singapore.
Qualifying Shock and Race Start Setback
Pierre Gasly’s seventh‑grid slot was a surprise after Isack Hadjar’s technical glitch and George Russell’s grid penalty. In early sectors, the Frenchman was slower than Racing Bull Liam Lawson in both Q1 and Q2, yet he edged ahead by 0.144 s in the final jump‑seat pull‑out.
At the podium, Gasly slipped two places to 9th and 10th behind Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg. “We had no power out of the line,” he said, noting that Alpine’s starts had been strong earlier in the year.
Mid‑Race Pitfalls Against Lawson and Hadjar
The race saw Gasly struggling to maintain momentum. By lap 55, he sat 10th, a mere eight seconds from Lawson, with tyre wear sharply reducing pace. Over the final six laps he lost 10 s to Lawson and an additional 14 s to Hadjar, whose late‑race charge stole the 10th position.
The attrition was linked directly to the car’s handling at the Marina Bay low‑speed corners. Gasly’s comments underlined a battle of traction versus tyre temperature.
Root Causes: Low‑Speed Corners and Overheating Tyres
“On a track with a lot of low‑speed corners, we just ran out of tyre life after three laps,” Gasly explained. He said that during qualifying, cold tyres never fully warmed up, while in the race, the cars felt “over the roof” in traction after a single lap.
Gasly also voiced frustration over his inability to exit corners efficiently. “The problem is I can’t get out of any corner. When I hit the throttle, I end up sideways and lose ground on straight‑line recovery,” he said. He highlighted that battery tweaks were futile, and admitted that the car’s rims imposed a clear limitation.
Constructors Battle Worsens Post‑Monaco
Alpine trails Racing Bull by 32 points in the constructors’ standings, a gap stretched after the International Court of Appeal’s 13‑point swing at Monaco. The French outfit now sits three points behind its mid‑field rival, tightening the pressure on Alpine’s engineers to resolve the traction dilemma.
Alpine’s Losing Streak Continues
The Singapore debacle marked the third back‑to‑back points miss for Alpine, a run that began with Franco Colapinto’s retirement amid suspected drivetrain issues. Each failure compounds the constructors’ deficit and erodes championship prospects.
Gasly’s candid assessment may signal a shift in Alpine’s development focus, yet the 32‑point gap to Racing Bull remains a formidable hurdle.
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
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