Pierre Gasly talks about the scary pit stop in F1 Chinese GP, as both he and Esteban Ocon pleased with slightly improved performance.
It was actually a scary moment in the pits for Alpine when one of their mechanics fell down during the pit top for Gasly in F1 Chinese GP. The left-rear wheel was not put in properly but the green light lit which prompted the Frenchman to move.
But it soon turned red and Gasly stopped. However, it couldn’t stop from a mechanic falling down albeit it was just a minor injury. “Yeah, quite scary, actually,” he said to media. “My green light, the light went green so I dropped the clutch, but then it went red straightaway.
“And then I saw him in the mirror, and saw the wheel wasn’t on. The mechanic is fine, which I was a bit scared of. We’ve had a couple of instances this year where I’ve lost some time on the box, so I’m sure we’ll review exactly what’s happened and improve it for next time.”
Overall, Gasly was a touch pleased with how the grand prix panned out where he finished 13th after having qualified in Q2. It was his first Q2 appearance of F1 2024 and it came at a race where he did not get the updated lighter floor which Esteban Ocon was running.
There was a slim chance of points but the pit stop quashed it eventually. “After we had the Safety Car, so it cost me some positions at the time,” said Gasly. “I also had a bit of a moment with Alex at the start as well, kind of being pushed wide. There were a couple of areas where we’ve lost time, and we’ll review, but with the car we had to do honestly, it’s already glad we finished 13th.
“Honestly, not that much, as I said, I am actually quite pleased because from every races since the start of the year, it was probably one of the closest from the Top 10 that we finished. On my side, I knew it was going to be difficult, looking at the performance in the first four races without the upgrade in China.
“I knew it was going to be tough but in the end, we still managed to make it to Q2, I did a good sprint race and in the main race, I managed to do some overtakes on couple of guys and be in the mix. Obviously, not everything was smooth, there were couple of moments that we need to review, it didn’t go as it should have been but all in all I am just looking forward to be in Miami,” summed up Gasly.
His teammate Ocon was left a tad disappointed after missing on points in 11th. He termed it as the best race from driving point of view as the Alpine pair could race their immediate rivals. “I think happier, but a bit disappointed at the same time, not to be in the points,” he said. “We ended up 2.3s away from the points which is difficult to swallow after what we have done this weekend.
“We have fully maximised this race, it has been my best driving race of the whole season, I was very happy with how I have managed anything. There was clearly left nothing on the table, so to not have that reward is a little sad but it is going in the right direction, a small at a time.
“Both cars made a step forward in China, well inside the Top 15 – of course a lot has happened in the race – so difficult to give conclusions exactly on where we would have ended up if everyone was there, but we will keep pushing and hopefully we have one more shot of being close to the points in Miami,” summed up Ocon.
He reckoned if he had passed Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll early on, there was a chance to catch Nico Hulkenberg. There was still a chance of points when the German was put under investigation, of which he was cleared eventually.
“It would be amazing to get a point for sure but I am not wishing anyone to get disqualified after the race because on merit we came 11th,” said Ocon. “It would have been a different race if I did pass Daniel and Lance as well, I would have been much closer to Nico, so we don’t know what could have been.”
Here’s video of pit stop: https://x.com/F1/status/1782811923345768808
Here’s how F1 Chinese GP panned out
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