After the first four races of the 2024 campaign, Alpine’s primary struggle was the lack of pace in the A524. However, that may not be the only cause of concern for the French outfit anymore. Reliability issues are also creeping into the Enstone-based outfit’s mechancial package, adding to their woes in what has been a nightmare season so far.
Pierre Gasly slammed his side after he was barely able to get any running during the only practice session of the Chinese GP weekend. This was due to a problem in his car’s energy recovery system (ERS).
An annoyed Gasly said on the team radio (as quoted by formule1.nl),
“Guys, this is not acceptable. I didn’t learn anything at all. Absolutely nothing!”
Gasly was fuming but his race engineer John Howard tried his best to calm the Frenchman down. Howard told Gasly, “Sorry about that. We have to look at these issues and try to be ready for the sprint shootout“.
In the sprint shootout, Gasly was able to register a lap time, but he couldn’t go higher than P16. Because he couldn’t get much running in the only practice session ahead of the Sprint shootout, Gasly could not have expected much more.
Alpine explains the issue Pierre Gasly’s car faced
After the free practice session on Friday, Alpine revealed that Gasly had an insulation issue with his ERS. With Alpine already lacking pace, reliability concerns will not do the French outfit any favors in their bid to make strides as the season progresses.
Alpine’s drivers also had a chance to take advantage of the wet weather conditions at the Shanghai International Circuit on Friday, but both Gasly and teammate Esteban Ocon failed to make it to SQ2. Ocon finished Sprint qualifying in P17.
While Gasly was far from happy with the limited running he had during the free practice session, beating Ocon during the sprint shootout would have offered him some consolation. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen either with Ocon finishing P13, two places ahead of Gasly.
Heading into the Grand Prix, Gasly and Ocon do not have a lot of hope for progress. Getting into the points would be a dream, but considering how bad their performance has been all weekend, it is highly unlikely.
