The very first day of Formula 1 returning to action gave a chaotic start. Pierre Gasly was one of the victims of the carnage that happened in Azerbaijan. Soon into the session, Gasly’s engine caught fire, bringing the entire grid to still.
RED FLAG! 🚩
Pierre Gasly has flames coming out of the back of his Alpine! 😮 pic.twitter.com/KPes31MA4g
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) April 28, 2023
On the other hand, Kevin Magnussen’s car also stalled. Thus, waving red flags immediately. Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda was also a victim of his rear tire getting burst, which certainly damaged his floor while continuing his run to his garage.
The biggest fear of everyone in the new sprint format has become a reality. The new shootout plan by F1 only allows one practice session across the weekend. So, the drivers who have been affected won’t have any time to adjust.
On top of that, in a couple of hours, there will be a qualifying session. So, the teams and drivers affected by any kind of damage would have to recover quickly to get their targets in the session that will set the course for the main race.
Pierre Gasly can’t be unlucky enough
The 27-year-old race driver reached Alpine with a lot of promise. However, his last two outings have been troublesome. His massive blunder in Australia also affected his teammate Esteban Ocon and stripped 11 points from his team.
Now that misfortune is followed by this engine failure in Azerbaijan. Nothing more could have gone wrong for the Frenchman, who transferred himself to a French team with several aspirations.
Nevertheless, the weekend is long, and Alpine could work to overcome the setback. Though, a new engine will surely come in for the 27-year-old ahead of the rest of the days in Baku.
Pierre Gasly strikes again
One could think that Gasly would have had an easier outing for the rest of the day. But no, the Alpine race driver in Q1 hit his car into the barrier. Funnily, in the same place where his successor at AlphaTauri Nyck de Vries crashed a few moments ago.
With this, his contention in the qualification is already over, and he would start the race from P18 on Sunday. The only saving grace for him could be a better performance during Saturday’s sprint race.
