Gasly '100%' optimistic AlphaTauri can rejoin midfield fight in second half of season

AlphaTauri had a tough first half of the 2022 season and currently sit in eighth place in the constructors’ championship with just 27 points. But Pierre Gasly believes we'll see a much improved performance from the Italian outfit in the second half of the season as long as they “maximise their full potential”.

Gasly has finished in the top-10 just three times in the first 13 races and when compared to the same point last season – in which he scored points in 10 out of 13 races – it has been a marked step back in performance for the team. But he insists he is "100%" confident that he will be back in contention for the points in the second half of the year.

“We knew at the start of the season that this year is a race of development," he said. "New regulations, new cars, people are just going to develop their car throughout the year. It doesn’t really matter how you start, what’s important is just to have [an] upward curve through the year.

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“I think we started in a decent place, kind of got slowed down a bit with all the issues we had with porpoising etc. But now it’s clearly bringing performance and when you see how tight the midfield is, I think it’s clearly going to bring us back in that fight. Now two-tenths in the midfield, you go from P8 to P16, so we just need to make sure we maximise the full potential of what we got for the rest of the year.”

The 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner also revealed what his teams aims where for the rest of the season, as while they're gunning for a better second half of 2022, Gasly says they will also be focusing on the “bigger picture” as they begin their preparations for the 2023 season.

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"Obviously now the target is very clear,” said Gasly. “Everything we are doing now [is] for the end of the year, but [also] for 2023, and that is more the bigger picture and also what I have in mind now. Everything we are doing might not pay off now, but I know that it is going to give us a better car for next year, which is very important. And that’s where the focus is."

Gasly and AlphaTauri are getting set to return to the track at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, and the French racer says he and his team have no intention of “throwing in the towel” as he set his sights on finishing in the points for the rest of the season.

“Spa is one of my favourite tracks, I love it,” he said. “We will be back on the starting block with three races in three weeks and after the break I am of course excited at the thought of getting back in the car and going racing again.

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“The last few races before the break had been rather complicated for us, with no points scored and things did not go our way. It was not what we wanted as a team. Since France, we’ve had some updates on the car, which we now understand a bit better.

“But it’s still complicated and the midfield teams are all very close. We’re not throwing in the towel, we are continuing to work hard and give our maximum to try and bring out more performance from the car as quickly as possible, so that we can chase points every weekend.”