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AlphaTauri need a 'big reset' says Gasly as he calls for upgrades after point-less Austrian GP
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AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has endured three point-less weekends in a row after finishing P15 in the Austrian Grand Prix. And the Frenchman has called for upgrades after lamenting his team’s pace over the weekend.
Gasly qualified 10th for the Sprint but finished Saturday’s 100km dash in P15 after Lap 1 contact with Lewis Hamilton. On Sunday, a pair of five-second penalties – one for transgressing track limits and another for making contact with Sebastian Vettel – saw Gasly finish 15th, ahead of his team mate Yuki Tsunoda.
“We can just forget everything about yesterday and today because we are dead slow,” said Gasly on Sunday, “probably the slowest car on track at the moment, and it’s a big shame to see we’re fighting for the last positions. I think we need a big reset and upgrades on the cars as fast as possible.
“I think we haven’t had any upgrades on the car for quite a long time now and we start to feel it, so yes, clearly not enjoyable and I really, really hope we can get these new parts as fast as possible.”
As for the collision with Vettel, Gasly explained: “I haven’t seen the footage yet, but I obviously received a penalty in the race, so I guess I’m the one to blame for the incident with Sebastian. I tried to fight as hard as I could, it’s always tricky in that corner and unfortunately, he spun.”
2022 Austrian Grand Prix: Gasly and Vettel make contact at Turn 4 as Vettel spins off into the gravel
Technical Director Jody Egginton did confirm that AlphaTauri are aiming to bring updates to the French Grand Prix – Gasly’s home race – on July 22-24.
“A very difficult race for us today, as we weren’t able to make any progress,” said Egginton on Sunday evening. “Additionally, on Pierre’s side we had a couple of penalties which set us back further. It was clear early on that it was going to be a two-stop race, so we brought Pierre in to try and move forward with that, however he hit a bit of traffic, holding him up, and from then on it was tough.
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“We’ve been on the back foot all day and unfortunately have come away with nothing. We’ve got a lot to review back at base. Now our focus is to get our updates to the car ready for the French Grand Prix and get ourselves back in to the midfield fight.”
The team from Faenza are eighth in the standings – seven points behind Haas – ahead of the Grand Prix at Paul Ricard.
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