Pierre Gasly feeling “crushed” after Franco Colapinto…

“I cannot believe it, so many points gone...”

Pierre Gasly’s initial reaction to the pile-up that occurred at the restart of Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix said it all.

Gasly led the midfield throughout the race and was seventh when the safety car intervention caused by Alexander Albon’s crash ended, with team-mate Franco Colapinto 10th, while the rival Racing Bulls were down in 12th and 14th.

However, a monumental lock-up from Colapinto on the inside saw the Argentinian careen into his team-mate in Turn 1, sending the sister car into Lando Norris’ McLaren – all three drivers retired from the race.

As it happens, the Racing Bulls collided at the same time, but Arvid Lindblad was cleared of any wrongdoing by the stewards and went on to snatch seventh place on the finish line. That was therefore a 13-point swing – Alpine is 15 points down on its fifth-placed opponent in the constructors’ championship, instead of a potential two based on the lap-35 classification.

“We're all very disappointed with the outcome after such a strong weekend, strong race,” Gasly said. “I was feeling very good with the car. The pace was almost as good as Lewis and same as Lando.” Shortly before Albon crashed out on lap 30, Gasly was six seconds behind Hamilton and three adrift of Norris, leading Kimi Antonelli by three and Colapinto by 13.

“So, keeping up the three-second gap with him until [Norris] locked up in Turn 1, then we had a 15-second margin with Franco behind. I mean, it's still difficult to process what just happened.”

Lando Norris, McLaren, Pierre Gasly, Alpine (Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images)

Although he took pole position in Monza, Gasly believes Alpine’s A526 had never been so competitive in race conditions.

“To be fair, I think that's the best race car we've had so far this year, which in a way is positive,” he said. “At the same time, it's like, when you get these chances to score big points, you've got to make it happen. And sadly it didn't happen today.”

Asked if he was happy with Colapinto’s apology, the Frenchman remained speechless for a few seconds.

“I mean, crushed,” he ended up replying. “If you ask me, I'm not happy about today.

“I'll take his apology.”

Gasly didn’t want to blame race leader George Russell for the mess at the restart, preferring to point out how F1’s new power units may have contributed to the Mercedes driver’s approach.

“George does whatever he wants to do, and it's up to us to...” he began. “Obviously we were quite bunched up, but with the engines we have and the limitations we have with battery, harvest, etc., you're not really that free in what you can do. So I wasn't really surprised for him to [leave the restart quite late].”

Gasly will now aim at “a good night’s sleep” and “a Sunday at home” to bounce back as early as next weekend in Malaysia.