Pierre Gasly says AlphaTauri must get on top of their braking problems, which he blamed them for his elimination in the second stage of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.
Gasly was frustrated to have his first flying lap attempt in Q2 ruined at the first corner when hHe locked up heavily under braking for the left hand hairpin of turn one on his first flying lap attempt in Q2, ruining his attempt to set a time. After a terse exchange with his team on the radio, Gasly was eliminated in 13th place, and angrily described the problems he was having in the biggest braking zones at the Circuit of the Americas.
“Again, the same shit,” Gasly exclaimed over the radio. “For fuck’s sake. Why do we keep having this problem? Turn one, 11 – it’s the same shit.”
Speaking to media including RaceFans after qualifying, Gasly said it was the third time he has experienced the same braking problem in qualifying during the 2022 season.
“So we glazed the front brakes – same as Japan and same as Canada,” he explained. “So clearly not ideal.
“Especially the second weekend in a row is something that should not happen. I’m just extremely disappointed because all weekend I felt good in the car and I do believe there was potential to be in the top 10. But then in these conditions, it’s just front locking in every corner and just can’t decelerate anywhere. So need to get on top of that.”
Gasly was mystified as to how the problem recurred at Circuit of the Americas. He noted McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo had also suffered braking difficulties during the earlier third practice session.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“It’s happened three times with a new set of brakes,” he explained. “Canada was in wet conditions, so you can’t really apply a lot of brake energy into the brakes. Suzuka is a kind of low-energy track as well for the brakes. Here, it’s not really low-energy, so I’m not really sure.
“Talking with Daniel, he had the same issue in FP3. But on our side it’s clearly something we need to get on top of because it cost us in Suzuka, it cost us again this weekend and on the season where we need to capitalise on every opportunity we can have, it just shouldn’t happen.”
Gasly said that the team would consult their brake supplier, Carbone Industrie, in an effort to understand what could be causing the repeating problems which have frustrated him for two consecutive race weekends.
“We try so hard to extract every hundredth out of the car,” he said. “Everybody at the track, everybody at the factory, myself – you put so much work into it and when it’s the time to deliver, you get something, an external problem where it’s just screwing us.
“It can happen once, but when it’s second time in a row and third time this season, it just shouldn’t happen at that level. So it’s something to check with CI [Carbone Industrie], just something we’ve got to fix.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2022 United States Grand Prix
- Steiner annoyed by lack of apology from race director over COTA protest error
- How many victory chances did Hamilton have in his first winless F1 season?
- Income from new title sponsor will bring Haas up to cost cap level – Steiner
- Mexico’s first home win or Verstappen’s record 14th? Six Mexican GP talking points
- Mercedes doubt tyre strategy cost Hamilton chance to beat Verstappen to win
