Pierre Gasly admits ‘disappointment’ in ‘challenging’ first F1 season for Alpine

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Alpine driver Pierre Gasly has admitted that 2023 was ‘disappointing’ in one respect after he endured a ‘challenging’ first season for the Renault-owned Formula 1 team.

The 27-year-old joined Alpine for the 2023 season after six years in F1 as part of the Red Bull family. Gasly broke into the pinnacle of motorsport with Toro Rosso in late 2017 and he only left Faenza for the first half of 2019. He briefly raced for Red Bull to replace Daniel Ricciardo.

Yet Alpine bought Gasly out of his contract with AlphaTauri to replace Fernando Alonso next to his compatriot Esteban Ocon. But the Enstone outfit fell to sixth in the constructors’ table with the two Frenchman behind the wheel. Gasly also only earned 62 points over Ocon’s 58.

Pierre Gasly returned to the Formula 1 podium after joining Alpine

Alpine were the fourth-best Formula 1 team in 2022 with 173 points through Ocon’s 92 and Alonso’s 81. The two drivers further ranked eighth and ninth in the championship. But Gasly headed Ocon for P11 and P12 in 2023. Alonso finished 2023 in P4 after joining Aston Martin.

Gasly and Ocon further only enjoyed one podium Grand Prix finish each this year. Ocon took their team’s first rostrum of the season with P3 at the Monaco GP. Gasly would equal the P3 result at the Dutch GP in August. He had also finished third over the Sprint at the Belgian GP.

Yet while Gasly and Ocon only claimed one Grand Prix podium each in 2023, their rostrums still marked both drivers’ returns to the top three. Gasly took his previous podium when he took P3 at the 2021 Azerbaijan GP. Ocon’s previous podium was his 2021 Hungarian GP win.

Pierre Gasly admits 2023 was ‘way more challenging’ than expected

Gasly, though, accepts there were ‘way more challenges’ than he and Alpine expected when the Rouen native joined the team. So, while his P3 results were positives, his overall results in 2023 were still ‘disappointing’. He got into the points at 11 of the 22 Grand Prix this season.

“There have been some positives,” Gasly stated, via quotes by RaceFans. “The obvious ones are the top-three finishes in Spa and Zandvoort.

“But, on the flip side, there were way more challenges than we expected and haven’t been able to match the ambitions and targets that we’ve set ourselves at the start of the year.

“It’s been a challenging year. It’s been disappointing on the results point of view. But I wouldn’t say we had a bad season. I would just say others had a better season and did a better job than we did. That’s the way I look at it.”