Gasly was one of the standout performers of the 2021 F1 season, qualifying in the top six six times and missing the Q3 shootout only once.
The pace of the AlphaTauri AT21 helped the Frenchman finish eighth in the drivers’ championship after the Styrian Grand Prix, also thanks to a shock podium in Baku.
After a strong start to the season, the Faenza team faltered at the Grand Prix of Portugal and Spain, with Gasly only finishing 10th and teammate Yuki Tsunoda missing points in both races.
Technical Director Egginton said the team asked “many questions” about its harsh Iberian charm and believes they learned valuable lessons about the car’s low-speed performance in those two races. Egginton believes the fact that the team has since managed to cure the car’s “laziness” on corners was key to advancing midfield in F1.
That approach has paid off in Azerbaijan, where Gasly scored his third F1 podium, and has continued to pay off since then, as AlphaTauri currently ranks fifth in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Aston Martin.
“After Portugal and Spain we had some concerns about our performance at low speeds,” Egginton said in Austria. “We weren’t super happy.
“Then we went to Monaco and played around with the set-up a bit. It’s a bit of a unique track and you can’t always draw too many conclusions, but we thought we learned a lot there.
“And then our attention focused on some of the balances, trying to make the car a little less lazy and spin better at medium pace, and [in] In Baku we had a good autorotation in slow corners, the car seemed to be turning pretty well.
“Paul Ricard was a challenge for everyone with tire and track temperatures and balance, but although the car was difficult to drive, it was competitive, much more competitive than in previous years. So we felt we had learned something again.”
Egginton pointed out that the team’s progress was also evident on the first Austrian race weekend, when Gasly qualified in sixth and rookie Tsunoda was eighth fastest, but had started from 11th place due to a penalty.
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02, limps back to the pits and retires with a puncture and damage on the first lap
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
While Tsunoda took a point in tenth, Gasly had to retire after being tagged by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari on the first lap.
But ahead of the events on Sunday, Egginton said AlphaTauri “answered a few questions” and healed the car’s main weakness.
“We put all of that together and we know the nature of this place, not so much slow content, a lot of medium speed, and you need good stability and rotation and it all fits together,” added Egginton.
“So, there’s a whole story. I think the engineers put it all together, all of the lessons we learned in recent events, and it worked pretty well. We feel like we have a better understanding.”
“We answered a few questions and the car drives faster as a result.”
