Gasly “lost 0.7 secs every lap on straights”

In brief

Alpine “just do too many mistakes”

Gasly, who retired from the two races before the Belgian Grand Prix with technical problems, said he was “very not happy” after suffering more trouble with his car during yesterday’s race.

“We have engine problem the whole afternoon,” said Gasly, who finished 13th. “I’m losing seven tenths down the straights every lap [with an] engine temperature issue.”

That was only the beginning of Gasly’s problems, he explained. “The steering isn’t straight the whole race. We missed the right strategy. We just do too many mistakes.

“The last three weekends have been absolutely frustrating. We just are not on top of what we should be, basically. I know the guys can do a lot better than that.”

He said Alpine need to regroup after going into the summer break eighth in the championship. “It’s been a tough start of the year. We scored roughly 10 points as a team and we must do a lot better than that. So it’s important we regroup together and we make sure the second part of the year is better.”

Piastri explains jack man drama

Oscar Piastri admitted he “went in a bit hot” when he knocked his jack man during his second pit stop in the Belgian Grand Prix.

“I felt like on Friday there was a lot of grip in the pit lane and I was kind of always undershooting the box,” he explained. “Even my first pit stop I probably undershot it a little bit. I had to brake a little bit, with Lewis [Hamilton] coming out, so maybe I was coming in a bit slow.

“But the second one clearly was a little bit overdone. It wasn’t my finest moment. I don’t think it really cost much in the scheme of things. I think it meant I probably would have just been stuck behind Lewis and George for another lap or two at the end. But obviously, something I want to tidy up for all the other races.”

Piastri finished third and was promoted to second by George Russell’s disqualification. Asked whether that had been one of his best performances he replied: “I would say so, I’m not sure my front jack man agrees.”

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Hulkenberg laments poor weekend

Nico Hulkenberg said he had “no pace, no harmony, no rhythm” after ending a “very difficult” race 18th and last of the runners.

“I just didn’t get off on the right foot with the car this weekend and we didn’t manage to find the sweet spot with all the different sessions,” he said. “We need to look into a little bit why but also to some extent, I think, just forget this weekend, regroup, refresh over the summer break and go again.”

His team mate Kevin Magnussen finished 14th. “Kevin looked a bit better and obviously he pulled off a one-stop, which was not bad and decent,” said Hulkenberg. “But still, overall, we need to look into our low-downforce performance.”

Sauber pit stop praised

Sauber team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi praised his team’s pit crew for performing a sub-two-second pit stop for Valtteri Bottas in the Belgian Grand Prix. The team suffered a spate of poor pit stops early in the year.

“Today’s recognition goes to our pit crew, who achieved a remarkable 1.9-second pit stop with Valtteri on lap 36,” he said. “This is a significant achievement for the team, especially after the issues we faced at the start of the season: it shows that we are now together with top teams for pit stop times.”

However Sauber head into the summer break the only team yet to score a point this year.

Zandvoort penalties for Bearman and Antonelli

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was given two five-place grid penalties for the next Formula 2 race, the sprint event at Zandvoort. The stewards noted dry ice fell from Antonelli’s car during the formation lap, which his team had been warned not to repeat after the same happened to his team mate Oliver Bearman’s car at Silverstone. The team was given a suspended five-place grid penalty on that occasion, which has now been invoked, and a second identical penalty applied.

The stewards observed the same infringement on Paul Aron’s car. As this was Hitech’s first such infringement this year, they were given a suspended five-place grid drop.

Both Prema drivers will serve grid drops at Zandvoort as Bearman was given a five-place penalty for his collision with Zane Maloney at the start of yesterday’s race.

‘Sprater’ 44th in bike race

Sebastian Vettel, competing under his wife Hannah’s surname, finished 44th in the Offroad Finnmark cycling race yesterday. Four-times Formula 1 world champion ‘Sprater’ covered the 150 kilometre course in eight hours, 55 minutes.