The team principal valued the collective effort despite the limited results of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly in Marina Bay and is confident of an improvement for Austin
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Alpine's time at the Singapore Grand Prix left little to celebrate on the track, but its new team principal, Steve Nielsen, preferred to look at the constructive side. After a weekend in which Franco Colapinto finished 16th and Pierre Gasly was barely able to advance from the pit lane, the Briton highlighted the group's attitude and the strategy adopted under challenging conditions.
"It was another tough race for us, but we can take some positives, in the sense that we managed to fight a bit with our rivals," Nielsen said, referring to the car's performance on the Marina Bay street circuit.
The executive especially valued the performance of the Argentine driver: "Franco had a good start and gained some positions on the first lap. We were quite aggressive early on with the strategy, attempting an undercut on the cars ahead. It looked promising, but in the end he lost pace due to degradation."
Colapinto llegó a estar 12°
Regarding Gasly, he explained the complex situation that forced him to start from the pits: "We decided to change his car's setup and replace the floor, which meant a start from the pit lane. That put him at a disadvantage from the beginning, although he had a good first stint and stayed within the midfield group, which was held up by a traffic train."
"When his hard tires wore out, we opted to fit softs for the final laps, which allowed him to close the gap to the cars ahead and benefit from the low fuel level and high grip in that final stint. In the end, with soft tires, he was able to get closer to the cars ahead," he added.
Gasly terminó 19°
Although the result was far from what was expected, Nielsen insisted on focusing on the positives and keeping attention on the immediate future: "Of course, it's not the result we aim to achieve, but there are many positives to take from the whole weekend. We're going to Austin with more optimism regarding our ability to perform at a much more conventional circuit."
"We can trust that better days will come, and I'm pleased to see the work ethic that everyone in the team continues to demonstrate in this difficult moment," he concluded.
In a time of transition for Alpine, Nielsen's calm voice seeks to maintain the team's morale as it tries to rebuild its competitive direction.
