Alpine and a negative balance of his passage through Saudi Arabia

Pierre Gasly did not last a return and Jack Doohan had no rhythm in a race in which everything aimed to add points.

Pass the page as soon as possible will be Alpine’s main objective after the Saudi Arabia GP. Of course, it will not be easy because on the road to Miami, where the sixth date will be played, they must repair the A525 of Pierre Gasly, which Jeddah left with many damages, after the strong blow against the wall he suffered in the first round. In a race in which it seemed that the French team would score again, as happened in Barain, everything was negative. Because Jack Doohan, the pilot who was on track, was penultimate at the close of the competition.

Gasly was facing the great chance to score by leaving from the seventh place. The former Red Bull came from being seventh in Sakhir and had reconfirmed in Jeddah the progress of the team. But nothing lasted, just four curves before ending the wall. In the middle of a Hard fight with Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)the tires were hooked and both departed out of control.

“I left the greatest possible space to make sure that we both passed the curve, but, unfortunately, it seems that his car subvert and had this contact,” Gasly explained. “I knew Tsunoda’s intentions. I know there is great respect between Yuki and I. It is rather a matter of criteria: first round, cold tires … In the end, we all fight for our career,” he added. Tsunoda was in the same tune, finding in response to a touch of career: “I did my best to avoid it, but, unfortunately, just in the most closed curve on the track, there was less grip in the first round; I suppose we should be a little more cautious.”

With Gasly out of the initial return, the chances of scoruine for Alpine were drastically reduced. It was only Doohan on the track, who started from 17th place. The team called him boxes amid the entry of the security car that caused the Gasly accident. The Australian was in the back. But averaging the race, Alpine’s pilot lost the rhythm and his records went very up. Once they all stopped in boxes, it was 12th, but with much more spent tires with respect to the rivals and without rhythm, they took number to overcome it.

Alpine finally called him for a second detention, came out again with new hard tires and recovered rhythm. His fastest return in the race was 1M33S150 and that record is located 12th when assembling the classifier of the best records of the 18 pilots who completed turns (Tsunoda and Gasly did not register the way). However, the problem was inconsistency, because it did not have a even rhythm from one turn to another.

“It was a very difficult day, undoubtedly the most difficult for me in F1. It was a complicated combination, the first Stint was not terrible, stopping so early and trying to make 49 laps … I questioned him from entry. It was not easy to move to Hülkenberg,” explained the Australianwho closed the competition only ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto. Thinking about the future, Doohan said: “We have to focus on gathering everything to do the classification return, that will do everything simpler. And make simpler strategies, not put so much pressure on ourselves.” To define his passage through Jeddah, it was clear: “You have to lower your head and continue pushing.”

The Australian position is increasingly complex. The noise generated around him and his future, having Franco Colapinto and Paul Aron as reservations, will increase as long as he does not improve his performance. It is a rookie of just six races in F1 and it is unfair to compare it with a very experienced Gasly, who is perhaps at the highest point of his career. But in the meat chopper that is the World Cup, there is no time. The examples are many.