The Bahrain Grand Prix was supposed to be the start of something special for Pierre Gasly, who took part in his first race away from the Red Bull system.
The Frenchman signed for Alpine from AlphaTauri over the winter break with the aim of becoming a regular on the podium rather than fighting at the back of the grid.
Gasly’s first weekend with Alpine started disastrously, as the 27-year-old qualified in P20, meaning that he started the Bahrain Grand Prix from last place.
A stunning recovery drive saw the Frenchman finish in P8, suggesting that the poor qualifying was just a blip and that Gasly will be a success at Alpine.
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Charles Leclerc’s weekend was almost the complete opposite, as the Monegasque driver went third fastest in qualifying and managed to save a set of soft compound tyres.
The 25-year-old has the title in his sights this season but was delivered a major blow at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
In the second half of the race, while running in the podium places, Leclerc’s energy store failed, cutting the engine and forcing the Monegasque driver to retire from the race.
Walking away from the first race of the season with zero points is certainly not what Leclerc would have had in mind and the Ferrari driver has been taking his mind off of it ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Team Gasly Instagram account shared a photo earlier this week of Gasly and Leclerc together in Saudi Arabia, bonding over a game of tennis.
“Wednesday activity! Can’t split these two,” read the post’s caption.
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Leclerc will be serving an grid penalty at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, with the Ferrari driver already using both of his allowed energy stores in Bahrain.
Hopefully the games of tennis with Gasly get quickly allow Leclerc to get over the disappointing Bahrain Grand Prix and prepare for this weekend, where a stunning recovery drive will be needed, should he wish to challenge Red Bull for the race win.
With Aston Martin and Mercedes both looking to challenge for podiums, Leclerc will need to bring his best performance to Jeddah is he wishes to overcome his grid penalty.