AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was left ruing his own performance coupled with a huge slice of misfortune that saw him qualify 17th for the Monaco Grand Prix.
During the opening session, the track was evolving astonishingly quickly, and lap times were plummeting from the beginning to the end, so Gasly’s lap set earlier on in qualifying was not enough to get him into the top 15.
He was set to try and improve at the end of Q1, but team-mate Yuki Tsunoda clipped the wall at the Nouvelle chicane, causing a perhaps over-exuberant marshal to wave a red flag.
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Subsequently, there was insufficient time to set a lap, so Gasly was eliminated.
That came after he ended the three practice sessions sixth, seventh and fifth respectively, so the Frenchman cut a frustrated figure after qualifying.
“The whole weekend was so good, P5 this morning, P6 yesterday, every time I came out, I felt super good in the car, and I was just comfortable to put fast lap times in,” explained Gasly.
“I just don’t understand some of the choices we are making, and obviously there is a bit of bad luck in there. It’s a mix of different circumstances, but at the end of the day, it was the same session for everyone.
“Basically, [I] didn’t have any representative lap time, and our mistakes are costing us massively. I’m very disappointed for everyone in the team.”
Gasly reiterated that his own lap at the start of the session was not sufficient, before his Japanese team-mate left some bits of AlphaTauri on the track.
“There are a lot of things we need to review, I think the conclusion is we’re not doing a good enough job at the moment,” conceded the former Red Bull driver.
“We have a car to finish and qualify P5, P6, I just don’t understand how we end up in this position.
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“We just need to do a better job. I’m so disappointed.”
Collectively therefore, the whole team needs to improve.
“When we don’t do a good job, it’s not going to point them out, it’s just overall as a team, they try to do their best, I’m giving them my best,” added Gasly.
“But at the moment, these things should not happen, and we need to do better.”
Saturday afternoon was the second time this season that Gasly has been eliminated in the first qualifying phase.