Pierre Gasly set the quickest time in FP1 but found it difficult in FP2 as the car showed a very different face when the conditions in Bahrain cooled.
After falling from P1 in FP1 to P13 in FP2 in Bahrain Grand Prix practise, AlphaTauri has revealed that their AT03 car is “struggling massively” in cool conditions.
Pierre Gasly set the quickest lap at the Bahrain International Circuit in the afternoon heat, beating Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes.
Unfortunately, as the track cooled, the AlphaTauri started struggling more and more, with Gasly finishing the day in 13th place, as their opponents took advantage of the evening to run even faster.
Late in the day, their pain was heightened when Yuki Tsunoda was summoned by the stewards after colliding with Charles Leclerc, breaking his front wing and receiving a punishment.
Gasly: We need to understand what happened
“We’ve had two very different sessions; we topped the timings in FP1 and then in the second session we were P13, so two very contrasting outcomes,” explained Gasly.
“I think, purely, for us, the hotter track conditions helped, the car really seemed to click, but [at night] we struggled massively in the cold.
“We need to look through everything and understand what happened, especially as qualifying and the race are both at night here in Bahrain.
“I think our long-run pace was slightly better than the shorter runs, but still we’ve got a lot of work to do to fully understand our performance in these conditions.”
AlphaTauri adamant nothing is fundamentally wrong
“We hit the ground running in FP1 but then had mixed results going into FP2, where we were not able to follow the changing track conditions and both cars suffered from a lack of grip and difficult balance,” Chief Race Engineer Jonathan Eddolls explained.
“Not only did we struggle more, it also appeared other teams made quite a step up in performance between FP1 and FP2, which emphasised the gap.
“Fundamentally there isn’t anything wrong with the car, as we showed in FP1, so we have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure we understand the FP2 performance and make the relevant changes to the car.
“This is particularly important for qualifying, as the track temperature will be similar to [Friday] evening.”
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