Gasly praises Alpine’s ‘positive step’ after points in Zandvoort while Colapinto rues ‘harsh’ penalty

There were mixed emotions for the Alpine team after the Dutch Grand Prix, with Pierre Gasly taking heart from a “positive step” made by the squad’s upgrade package while Franco Colapinto was left to rue what he deemed as a “harsh” penalty.

After lining up in P11, Gasly made a good start and was running within the top 10 when Max Verstappen crashed ahead of him on his opening lap, the Frenchman just managing to avoid getting caught up in the accident.

Having then held onto P8 at the race restart, the rest of the Grand Prix was not necessarily straightforward for Gasly but he ultimately managed to claim the final point on offer in tenth, adding to his weekend tally following a P8 finish in Saturday’s Sprint.

“A bit of a frustrating race,” Gasly explained afterwards. “I lost quite a lot of time in the middle of that race and eventually ended up with a point. So, yeah, lots to review, some good stuff, some stuff to improve.”

Reflecting on the performance of the team’s updates – which were only added to Gasly’s car for the event in Zandvoort, with Colapinto set to receive them in Monza – Gasly said: “Overall, it's definitely a positive step.

“We managed to score a point yesterday, a point today, and yeah, I'm sure we're going to learn a lot more about it. I think generally I felt a bit more comfortable with the Sprint car than the race car. So yeah, all to learn from, and it's going to be a nice battle with VCARB.”

On the other side of the Alpine garage, it proved to be a frustrating Sunday at the Dutch Grand Prix for Colapinto, who had initially made gains from 14th on the grid but went on to collect a drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.

That dropped him down the order, and the day became even more difficult for the Argentinian when he received a 10-second time penalty for a second yellow flag infringement. He ultimately crossed the line in P14.

“I think just quite unfortunate,” Colapinto said after the race. “It was a very good start, one of the best starts of the year. And yeah, then it was a pity, I think, just a very harsh penalty.

“It compromised the whole of our race, and quite tricky I think to manage in those situations when there are pieces of car everywhere flying around and you have to make a decision.

“I was making my pass and, the yellow flag coming out very late, it was clearly much more dangerous to slam on the brakes in the middle of the straight on the water and on the banking than doing what I've done.

“But at the end of the day, we still had an infringement, so a tricky race after that, stuck behind the guy and just getting a lot of degradation.”

Despite facing a tough day in Zandvoort, Colapinto admitted that he is “excited” to run the upgrades on his car next time out at the Italian Grand Prix.