Alpine System 1 driver Pierre Gasly has blamed his underwhelming Dutch Grand Prix end result on Racing Bulls’ group ways in Sunday’s race, amid their tight battle within the constructors’ championship.
Gasly was on kind in Zandvoort, the place he certified and completed eighth within the dash – ‘better of the remainder’, in different phrases – though he took simply eleventh on the grid for the principle race.
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A powerful begin, nonetheless, meant the previous Racing Bulls racer swiftly climbed to eighth – however that was till his first pitstop dropped him behind Arvid Lindblad, whose drive-through penalty for a yellow-flag infringement had taken him out of competition for factors.
Gasly spent seven laps caught behind Lindblad till he tried an overtake across the exterior of Flip 11, however locked up and was handed by Nico Hulkenberg, with Yuki Tsunoda now tailing him.
Hulkenberg made quick work of Lindblad, however Gasly nonetheless could not and Tsunoda impressively overtook the Alpine into Flip 7, a transfer he arrange within the banked Flip 3 curve.
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Whereas Lindblad unsurprisingly made it straightforward for his Racing Bulls team-mate to undergo, Gasly saved struggling. General, it took a whopping 17 laps in whole for the Frenchman to get by.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine, behind Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls
Pierre Gasly, Alpine, behind Yuki Tsunoda, Racing Bulls
To compound his points, Gasly discovered himself behind Tsunoda after his second pitstop and required one other 10 laps to discover a well beyond his former team-mate.
“VCARB ruined our race within the center a part of the race, performed a group sport for the championship and did it properly,” Gasly lamented. “I imply, it simply made me lose a place to Nico and Tsunoda and I do not know what number of seconds of race time. Congrats to them, and I am unable to wait to race them.”
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The Racing Bulls technique had no affect on the Faenza-based group, which didn’t rating factors as Tsunoda and Lindblad completed eleventh and twelfth, however most actually value Gasly ninth place. He completed one second behind Fernando Alonso after shedding 4 seconds to the Spaniard – regardless of new tyres – when he was behind Lindblad; then the Tsunoda stumbling block prevented the Alpine driver from catching the Aston Martin, which was one-stopping, as rapidly as he may have.
“It is simply annoying, but it surely’s Zandvoort,” Gasly added. “Cannot actually overtake, and that is going to alter within the coming tracks. And good factor is I’ve a very good reminiscence, so I am going to ensure we smile on the finish of the yr.”
But, when Motorsport.com put Gasly’s feedback to him, Lindblad was unfazed: “I do not know. Yeah, that is a pleasant story. In the long run, yeah, I performed the group sport. I do not know.
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Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
“If he has a very good reminiscence, then positive. In the long run, all of us struggle as laborious as we will each weekend. I attempted to assist the group the place I may. The fact was, my race, I wasn’t actually in it anymore, so yeah, I did what I may to assist the group.”
The 2 outfits are locked in an in depth struggle for fifth place within the constructors’ championship, with Racing Bulls on 66 factors and Alpine now as much as 63.
Learn Additionally:
Dutch Grand Prix Driver Scores 2026
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