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Alpine lost crucial points in their battle against Racing Bulls after the French team's drivers collided with each other in Baku.
"I can't believe it, so many points gone to waste..."
Pierre Gasly's initial reaction after the massive pile-up at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix restart said it all.
Gasly had been running in the midfield throughout the race and was in seventh position when the safety car period, triggered by Alexander Albon's crash, ended. His teammate Franco Colapinto was tenth, while their rivals from Racing Bulls occupied 12th and 14th positions.
However, a monumental lock-up from Colapinto on the inside saw the Argentinian crash into his teammate at Turn 1. The impact sent Gasly's car into Lando Norris's McLaren, with all three drivers retiring from the race.
Coincidentally, the Racing Bulls drivers also collided at the same moment, but Arvid Lindblad was cleared by the stewards and managed to snatch seventh place at the finish line. This resulted in a 13-point gap in favor of their competitors. Instead of potentially being just two points behind fifth in the Constructors' standings, Alpine is now 15 points adrift of their rival.
"We are all very disappointed with the outcome after such a strong weekend and race," Gasly stated. "I felt very good with the car. The pace was almost as good as Lewis's and the same as Lando's."
Shortly before Albon's crash on lap 30, Gasly was six seconds behind Hamilton and three seconds behind Norris, leading Kimi Antonelli by three seconds and Colapinto by 13.
"So, we maintained a 3-second gap to him until Norris locked up at Turn 1, and then we had a 15-second advantage over Franco. I mean, it's still hard for me to grasp exactly what happened."
Despite securing pole position at Monza, Gasly believes Alpine's A526 car has never been so competitive in race conditions.
"Honestly, I think this is the best race car we've had so far this year, which in a way is positive," he said. "At the same time, when you get chances like this to score big points, you have to capitalize. Unfortunately, that didn't happen today."
Asked if he was satisfied with Colapinto's apology, the Frenchman remained silent for a few seconds.
"I'm devastated," he eventually replied. "If you ask me, I'm not happy with today. I will accept his apology."
Gasly declined to blame race leader George Russell for the chaos at the restart, preferring to point out how the new power units in Formula 1 might have contributed to the Mercedes driver's approach.
"George does what he wants, and it's up to us..." he began. "Obviously, we were quite bunched up, but with the engines we have, and the limitations with the battery, energy regeneration, etc., you're not as free in what you can do. So I wasn't particularly surprised that he delayed the restart so late."
Gasly is now hoping for a "good night's sleep" and "a Sunday at home" to recover as quickly as possible for next weekend's race in Malaysia.
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