Gasly points finger at AlphaTauri "bad choices" for Monaco misery

Pierre Gasly believes AlphaTauri paid the price for the "bad choices" made during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix that had a negative impact on his race last Sunday.

The Frenchman had driven superbly throughout practice and appeared set for a place in the top-10 shoot-out going into qualifying.

But Gasly emerged as a big-name casualty in Q1 as a result of a questionable red flag shown when team-mate Yuki Tsunoda made minor contact with a barrier.

Gasly was then the first driver to cross the line after the chequered flag had dropped, meaning he was unable to set a more representative time and was resigned to a spectator role as his name dropped down the order.

Starting from 17th on the grid, the Frenchman seized his chance and was the first to gamble with intermediate tyres, producing fine overtakes on Daniel Ricciardo in his McLaren and Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu.

But it was a case of what might have been for Gasly who finished just outside the points in 11th.

"When you are out there with 1000bhp, really slippery conditions, no references, I don't know how many times I almost crashed," reflected Gasly.

"Then I decided to go with the inter. When I came out of the pit lane initially I thought 'This might be a bad idea' but I needed to make it work somehow.

"It is an exercise I really like, a big challenge trying to find the grip. I must say driving wise was really good.

"Unfortunately, we just started too far [back] and we paid the price for our bad choices in quali."

AlphaTauri needs to tidy up its act

Technical director Jody Egginton conceded the team should have worked better on Gasly's behalf.

"The rain shower at the start of the race was obviously a big disturbance, but it was also a good opportunity for us with Pierre to get him moving forward," said Egginton.

"We had an aggressive strategy and got him onto the inters early on, which worked quite well, whilst a lot of other runners stayed on the full wets and wanted to make that work until they could cross over to a dry compound.

"We had a good recovery race with Pierre but the main lesson for the weekend is that we need to have a tidier Saturday in order to make the most of the opportunities we have on Sunday.”

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