Gasly: 2023 'unluckiest' year I've known in F1

The Frenchman joined the Enstone-based squad at the start of this year, and he hoped it would be able to improve on its fourth-place finish in the 2022 constructors' championship standings. 

However, Alpine has endured a turbulent campaign beset by incidents and internal politics. 

Gasly and team-mate Esteban Ocon have accidentally driven into each other twice, and the A523 has slipped back into the midfield, leaving the team sixth in the standings. 

Behind the scenes, there has also been turmoil, as former CEO Laurent Rossi launched a scathing attack on the squad at the Miami Grand Prix. 

He was then subsequently moved aside prior to the team also parting ways with team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane over differences of opinion about its recovery potential. 

Gasly admits that things have not been easy, but he also reckons that bad luck has played a part in the campaign too – especially in costing Alpine a bunch of points in Melbourne after a second-corner collision at one of the red-flag restarts. 

"I think it's been quite tricky for many different reasons," said Gasly as he reflected on the first half of the year. 

Pierre Gasly, Alpine A523

Photo by: Alpine

"I think, overall, we've been probably the most unlucky I've been in Formula 1 compared to all other seasons.  

"There were a couple of missed opportunities, which had like a sort of snowball effect and a pretty big impact on the final results. So obviously, it doesn't reflect, the full potential of the package.  

"But, on the other side, we haven't been as competitive as what we had targeted at the start of the year.  

"Alpine finished quite strong in fourth position [in 2022], and we started this year behind Aston, so as the fifth best team. Then McLaren had a better development than we have had so far, so we dropped to sixth. And it's obviously not the target for the season. 

"It would be a lie to say that we matched the expectations. But we still have half a year to go and there's still quite a lot of stuff in the pipeline in terms of developments.  

"It's not going to turn the full season around, but I'm definitely hopeful that we can show a better form in the second part of the year." 

Gasly has said that there is not just one thing that has left the team struggling to deliver the results, as the A523 has several issues that needed to be worked on. 

"Obviously there are different areas of improvement," he said. "There is the overall downforce, which will bring you load and will make you faster.  

"And then there is obviously improvement of the through-corner balance, which is another topic with the sensitivity through different conditions.  

"At the minute, we're chasing all of that to be fair. So it's not like there is one area which is weaker than the others. We're just trying to make the package stronger. And we haven't really made the step that we had hoped for."