It was an Austrian Grand Prix to forget for Pierre Gasly, having been involved in collisions in both the Sprint and the main race, on his way to finishing the grand prix in 15th place.
The Frenchman went well initially in Friday’s Qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring, after claiming P10 for Saturday’s Sprint.
However, the Sprint saw Gasly involved in an incident at the first corner on the opening lap, after cutting across Sir Lewis Hamilton, who had nowhere to go.
This sent the Frenchman off the circuit, before recovering P15 for the traditional race on Sunday.
The race on Sunday went even worse for the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver, who was awarded two five-second time penalties during the race.
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The first came as a result of exceeding track limits too many times, with the second being awarded for hitting Sebastian Vettel at Turn Four.
Gasly lamented the entire weekend as a “disaster”, where he explained how “desperately” himself and the team need their next set of upgrades to the AT03.
“The whole weekend was a disaster, apart from qualifying,” Gasly said.
“But then, we were nowhere in terms of pace. I tried to do everything I can inside the car, but at the moment there’s just nothing to do, so I think we desperately need these upgrades on the car to to be able to get any decent results.”
A number of drivers were awarded penalties during the race, with some calling out that the race directors were inconsistent.
Gasly; however, had no complaints over the penalties he was awarded, after recognising he “didn’t respect” the warnings.
“[It’s the] same rule for everyone. I didn’t respect it so I got penalised,” said the Frenchman.
“[It was] my fault. I saw quite a lot of guys getting the black and white flag. I think it was better in the past without these track limits, but at the end of the day whatever rule they set we’ve got to respect it.”
The incident with Vettel came in the closing stages of the race, where the Aston Martin driver attempted to go around the outside of Gasly at Turn Four.
The Frenchman hit Vettel, who span into the gravel as a result.
George Russell was awarded an identical penalty at the start of the race, for hitting Sergio Pérez at the exact same corner.
Whilst admitting it “wasn’t intentional”, Gasly took the blame for ruining Vettel’s race.
“I tried to fight as hard as I can, and I took a penalty so I guess I’m the one to blame,” explained the 26-year-old.
“At the same time, when you’re fighting side-by-side it’s always a risk. I think we’ve seen it in the past and it wasn’t intentional.
“Fighting for P15, [there was] nothing really exciting there, but I haven’t seen the footage so I don’t argue the penalty. I guess if they gave it to me that I was the one to blame.”
Yuki Tsunoda’s race was just as bad, with the young Japanese driver having finished in 16th.
Gasly discussed after the race that both himself and his team-mate had “no pace”, and that no strategy would’ve fixed their situation in Austria.
The team are due to be fitting their next upgrades before the summer break, with Gasly hopeful that they’ll come at the upcoming French Grand Prix.
“We just have no pace. You can do whatever you want, any strategy you want, [but] with the speed we have at the moment, we just can’t keep going like this,” he added.
“We need to reset, and we should have some new parts coming. Hopefully they come for France , and we can show a better pace there.”
AlphaTauri have seen themselves slip to eighth in the Constructors’ Championship, with their competitors having introduced more significant upgrades before them.
Gasly isn’t surprised that the team find themselves where they are.
“It’s not surprising if you don’t have new parts,” the driver continued.
“At the start of the year, we were fighting with the guys at the front. Now we’re finishing 20/30 seconds behind, so we’re losing four or five tenths per lap, and that’s what we need to find.”