In the past few hours, a video clip of an interview with Pierre Gasly after the Austin Grand Prix has gone viral on social media. In the interview, the Frenchman strongly advised Charles Leclerc against using a one-stop strategy. However, Charles Leclerc didn’t heed the advice of the Alpine driver, and for the tenth time in his career, he failed to convert a pole position obtained on Friday into a victory, slipping all the way to sixth place, 25 seconds behind the winner.
Gasly had advised Leclerc not to opt for a one-stop strategy in the Austin GP.
“Charles came to me on the grid and said, ‘Are you also going for a single pit stop?’ And I replied, ‘There’s no way I’m doing a single stop,'” commented the Alpine driver at the end of the race, revealing an interesting backstory regarding Charles Leclerc’s strategy.
“We looked at each other, and at that moment, I was a bit confused about what he was saying. But I think we made the best possible strategy. From his expression after the race, I don’t think he liked the one-stop strategy very much.”
For the tenth time in his career, Charles Leclerc failed to convert a pole position into a victory, but what happened in Texas feels even more like a mockery. While keeping the lead was clearly a tough task, Charles demonstrated for long stretches that he could comfortably compete for a podium, only to derail it all due to the strategy adopted by the Ferrari pit wall.
As evidence of this, you need to look at Carlos Sainz’s final stint, with the Spaniard almost managing to catch a struggling Norris towards the end of the race and snatch an unexpected podium from him.
As for Pierre Gasly’s race, the Frenchman managed to climb back up the order thanks to a two-stop strategy, finishing in eighth place after losing three positions at the start. It was a breath of fresh air for him and the French team in what has been a challenging season for the historic French brand.
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“I’m very satisfied with the whole weekend,” said Pierre. “It was a great performance by the team. This is what we need to build on for the next season.”
On the other hand, there was no luck for Esteban Ocon’s other Alpine, who retired due to contact with Oscar Piastri at the start. Later on, the McLaren driver also had to retire due to damage to his MCL-60. Here is the link to Pierre Gasly’s interview.
Source: f1ingenerale
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