Unlucky Outing for Gasly and Alpine in Baku: Insights and Analysis from a Challenging Weekend
Few Formula 1 circuits are as punishing and unpredictable as Baku’s high-speed street track, and for Pierre Gasly and the Alpine F1 Team, the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend became a painful reminder of the sport’s brutal realities. What began with high hopes for a return to form swiftly unravelled, leaving the French squad and their driver struggling to find positives amidst a tide of misfortune.
From the initial practice session, Alpine’s new upgrades offered glimmers of promise, with both cars probing the limits in the narrow city confines. However, any optimism was quickly stifled by recurring reliability issues and poor luck with timing on session stoppages, shattering the team’s rhythm and eroding confidence before qualifying even began.
Pierre Gasly, never one to mince words, described the experience as “absolutely painful,” echoing what many fans saw: a weekend where the car simply wasn’t competitive enough, regardless of the drivers’ efforts. The team’s struggle with outright pace was complemented by an ill-timed power unit issue during Friday’s qualifying, forcing a rebuild of Gasly’s car and an almost inevitable start from the back of the grid for both the Sprint and the main Grand Prix.
The grid penalty meant Gasly’s Saturday was confined to damage limitation during the Sprint and the Grand Prix. The tight Baku layout, renowned for dramatic overtaking but also punishing to the rear of the field, made any progress nearly impossible given Alpine’s lack of top speed and traction through the slow corners. Despite his resilience and strategic attempts via alternative pit stop tactics, Gasly was unable to haul his car higher up the order, eventually finishing out of the points.
Teammate Esteban Ocon faced a similarly frustrating race, his progress stifled by the same pace issues and lack of technical execution. The once-promising A524 lacked the straight-line speed to challenge midfield rivals, with Alpine even more exposed given the nature of the Baku City Circuit’s mammoth back straight. The French squad simply “had no chance,” as Gasly admitted post-race, summing up the blunt reality.
For F1 fans, seeing a talented driver and team flounder after such extensive pre-season expectations is a reminder: the sport’s competitiveness leaves little margin for error. The technical directives introduced in 2024 have made car development a moving target, with Alpine’s struggles in Baku highlighting the importance of rapid adaptation and flawless execution – neither of which were present last weekend.
Alpine’s leadership has since acknowledged that the latest batch of upgrades did not deliver the expected leap in performance, especially when compared to rival teams making visible progress. With only a handful of races until the European phase of the championship, the pressure is now squarely on the Enstone squad to diagnose their issues and innovate, fast. The fight for the lower-midfield spots is fierce, and every lost weekend allows competitors like Williams and Haas to close the gap.
Looking ahead, both Gasly and the team are eager to draw a line under Azerbaijan and focus energies on tracks that are less brutal and more forgiving to their package’s current limitations. While the championship points tally remains meager, hope rests on the hard work being undertaken back at the factory. F1 history shows that fortunes can turn in an instant with the right technical breakthrough or stroke of luck—a fact Gasly, Alpine, and their loyal fans must cling to as the long season plays out.
Baku was a sobering reminder that in Formula 1, there are no guarantees—only the promise of another chance to fight, adapt and surprise. Alpine’s determination will soon be tested on circuits offering more favourable layouts, but unless meaningful progress arrives swiftly, more tough weekends could be on the horizon.
