Gasly explains ‘unfortunate’ Lap 1 clash with Tsunoda in Jeddah as chance for Alpine to score ‘good points’ goes begging

Pierre Gasly has conceded that incidents such as his first-lap clash with Yuki Tsunoda at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix “should not happen”.

Former team mates Gasly and Tsunoda retired in the opening moments at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with the pair colliding as they fought over eighth place.

READ MORE: Piastri clinches victory in Saudi Arabia from Verstappen and Leclerc as McLaren driver becomes new championship leader

During the run between Turns 3 and 4, Gasly had positioned his Alpine on the outside of Tsunoda’s Red Bull, and then attempted to stay side-by-side through the tight left-hander.

With the track immediately switching back to the right, the Frenchman hoped to maintain his momentum and seal the position, but the two cars made contact, slid into the wall and dropped out of the race.

Giving his view on the incident, Gasly said: “I think I had a good run in Turn 4, managed to get good braking and get ahead of him.

“I was aware he was on the inside, so I left as much space as I could on the exit of the corner – I had already two wheels off the track. I had to keep my inside wheels obviously inside the white line to make the move past, but unfortunately there was this touch and it sent my car spinning.”

Speaking before the stewards deemed it a racing incident, an assessment Tsunoda agreed with, Gasly was reluctant to expand on whether he thought one driver might be more to blame than the other.

READ MORE: Russell laments ‘underwhelming’ Mercedes performance in Saudi Arabia with fifth ‘where we deserve to finish’

“I’m not going to really comment on that,” he answered, when asked if a penalty should be handed out.

“I know Yuki’s intentions, I know him very well, I know he didn’t mean anything bad. It’s just an unfortunate outcome and obviously it should not happen, but it’s motorsport.

“It has been quite a long time since we’ve been involved in any of this sort of situation and it’s never great.”

Having started inside the top 10, Sunday marked a good opportunity for Gasly and Alpine to build on a first points score of the season one week before in Bahrain.

READ MORE: Leclerc ‘never expected’ podium in Saudi Arabia as he urges Ferrari to ‘keep pushing’ for fight at front

Instead, the team failed to register for the fourth time this year, with Jack Doohan crossing the line as the second-last finisher in 17th.

Reflecting on the missed chance, Gasly said: “It feels like we would have been in the mix with Carlos [Sainz] and Alex [Albon] today. The incident itself doesn’t matter too much to me today, it’s more that we looked strong and we could bag some good points for the team in that race.

“On a positive note, we have been competitive all weekend and it’s probably on paper not our best track, so it brings good confidence. We will have to move on quickly and just build on these positives from the weekend.”

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