Pierre Gasly blames Yuki Tsunoda for their Saudi GP crash, insisting he left enough space to avoid a costly first-lap collision.
Pierre Gasly’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix came to a frustrating end before it really began. The French driver was taken out on the opening lap after a collision with Yuki Tsunoda, and he wasn’t shy about where he placed the blame.
“It’s a real shame,” Gasly said. “From where I was, I had a good line into Turn 4. I made sure to leave as much room as possible so we could both make it through. It was really close, and unfortunately, the contact ended my race. That makes it all the more frustrating.”
Gasly, who previously raced alongside Tsunoda at AlphaTauri, was clear in his assessment: “From my side, it’s straightforward. I went as wide as I could. I knew he was on the inside and needed space on the exit. I was on the racing line, slightly ahead, and honestly, it doesn’t need much more analyzing.”
Despite the early exit, Gasly tried to stay positive about Alpine’s performance in Jeddah:
“We have to reset and focus on Miami now. The team did a great job all weekend, and I’m disappointed for them because we had a shot at fighting the Williams cars. We’ll go over the small details, tighten things up, and aim to score points in the next races.”
Meanwhile, Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan had a rough outing in what turned out to be one of the toughest races of his budding Formula 1 career.
Starting from P17, Doohan took a gamble by switching to hard tires under the early Safety Car — but it didn’t pay off.
“It was probably the hardest day I’ve had in F1 so far,” said the Australian. “We took a risk on strategy, going with the hards after just one lap — which meant 49 laps to the end! It started off okay, I was keeping up with Nico [Hülkenberg], but I just didn’t have the pace to pass.”
“I dropped back slightly to avoid overheating my tires behind him, but as soon as I gave a bit of space, the cars behind pounced.”
Doohan admitted that better qualifying results would make life a lot easier:
“We need to play to our strengths. If we can put a clean lap together in qualifying, we won’t need to rely on bold strategies just to get back in the game.”
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Gasly Slams Tsunoda After Saudi Clash: “I Gave Room” Gasly Slams Tsunoda After Saudi Clash: “I Gave Room”
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