‘It was painful’ – Gasly and Ocon looking to turn the page after ‘dead slow’ Baku performance

Alpine didn’t just have an Azerbaijan Grand Prix to forget but a whole weekend in which nothing really went right for the team, leaving them with two slightly disgruntled drivers at the flag. Esteban Ocon finished 15th and Pierre Gasly 12th, but it wasn’t just the pace that was the issue in Baku.

Ocon missed out on plenty of running in practice, needing a precautionary power unit change in FP1 before stopping out on track in FP2. He wound up starting from the pit lane after changing more PU components.

Meanwhile, Gasly was disqualified in qualifying for a fuel mass flow breach, leaving him starting from the back of the field for the race.

READ MORE: Colapinto declares points finish ‘a dream come true’ as Williams celebrate double success in Baku

“We will turn the page, there’s nothing good for us this weekend,” admitted Ocon after the race.

“Our focus must be towards the next race, which comes in a few days’ time in Singapore. As a team, we will regroup and concentrate on maximising all available running time to build the performance and be race ready and get a chance to fight in the points.”

READ MORE: ‘It’s my fault’ – Bearman reflects on ‘not fully deserved’ point in Baku despite making history

Gasly’s assessment was more surprising, given the result, with the Frenchman putting in what he called one of his best performances of the season after climbing from 18th on the grid to 12th at the flag – managing to run nearly the entire race on his starting hard tyres, before pitting one lap from the end for softs when it became apparent there would be no Safety Car.

“On one side, I think it was the best race of the year on my side driving-wise, I was at the absolute limit every single lap every single corner and there was nothing else in it,” he said.

“On the other side, we were dead slow the entire race and it was painful to see the others passing by – I just had no pace. We knew Monza and Baku were the two worst tracks for us. Last year in Singapore we scored points, so hopefully we can bounce back there.”

New Team Principal Oliver Oakes seems to have his work cut out to recover eighth in the constructors’, with Williams now having a three-point lead over Alpine after a double-points score in Baku.

“Ultimately, we did not have the reliability to compete this weekend and it’s something we need to analyse and quickly address, especially as we’ve dropped a place in the championship standings,” said Oakes. “We’ll look to bounce back in Singapore, where we need to re-find some of the performance and form we had around the summer break.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Relive the action from Baku as Piastri takes exhilarating victory in dramatic fight for the win