Gasly says damage with Hamilton and Perez 'finished me' after P13 result at Abu Dhabi GP

Pierre Gasly admitted Alpine could have done a few things “differently” in Abu Dhabi but acknowledged the damage sustained from his collisions with Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton cost him the most in the race.

Gasly pulled off some impressive overtakes on Hamilton and Perez to go from 10th to eighth at the end of the first lap. But in doing so, the Red Bull driver collided with the rear of his Alpine, leading to a small loss of parts.

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He soldiered on, although he was later overtaken by Perez, only for Hamilton to damage his diffuser after also hitting the rear of his car. Gasly locked-up into Turn 6, with the Mercedes driver unable to respond quickly enough to avoid hitting the Frenchman.

Gasly then pitted on Lap 17 and came out behind Hamilton and his team mate Esteban Ocon, prompting an angry radio message. However, even though he feels Alpine must discuss that situation, he says finishing in 13th was the likeliest result.

“There were a couple of things that didn’t go our way,” said Gasly. “At the start I had a really good move into Turn 6, overtaking Lewis and Checo [Perez] but Checo clipped the back of my car. So I had the first bit of damage and a couple of laps later Lewis finished me.

“He just drove into the back of my car, broke all the diffuser, so from there on it was kind of damage limitation and we were losing quite a lot of downforce.

“Then after there were a couple of things which should have gone slightly different but then we will discuss with the team about it. I don’t think it would have changed because the damage was already done with the diffuser, but clearly not our day.”

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It brings to an end what has been a strong debut season with Alpine for Gasly and after the race he reflected on his first year with the team and why he believes they have set “strong foundations” to start from in 2024.

“Yeah, I mean overall I’m really pleased,” said Gasly. “Because changing teams and coming to my first season with Alpine it was always going to be quite difficult at the start and quite tricky.

“Takes some months before you really find your feet, into a new car, into a new organisation with new people, with new engineers around you but I think overall we did a good job. We really became stronger and stronger months after months.

“Second part of the year was definitely better and really happy with the mindset and mentality I am seeing inside the team. I know for next year we will start with much stronger foundations than I was 10 months ago in Bahrain.”