AlphaTauri F1 'doesn't have an answer' for strong Baku performance - Gasly

The Frenchman qualified fourth last time out in Baku, just 0.3s off pole-sitter Charles Leclerc.

Gasly went on to finish on the podium for the third time in his career, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh - his best result of the season. 

After starting the campaign strongly in Bahrain, AlphaTauri’s performance dipped at Portimao and Barcelona.

Gasly returned to form in Monaco with sixth, before finishing third in Azerbaijan.

Reflecting on AlphaTauri’s upturn in form, Gasly said after the race in Baku: “A lot of question marks when it goes bad you need to understand – but when it goes that well? We don’t really understand why we were so fast all weekend. We also need to understand because if there is anywhere where we can reproduce this kind of performance, I think it can change a lot our season, so… now it’s time to celebrate, enjoy this kind of moment. 

“I’m just so happy and unfortunately I have no one, no friends, no family here to celebrate with. I have my team and I’m sure pretty much half the team has gone to the UK. I will celebrate with the guys that are still here but it’s just an incredible, incredible day for the whole team.”

Team boss Franz Tost heaped praise on Gasly for his consistent performances throughout the season, despite the difficulties the team had with car setup.

“Pierre was from the very beginning onwards very competitive,” Tost added. “If you remember, he was on the fifth position in Bahrain on the qualifying, then in the race he had unfortunately the collision with Ricciardo, if I remember right, he lost the front wing – but he was always there. 

“When we struggled, there were technical reasons behind, that we couldn't get correct set-up to the car, either from the tyres or the aero side, and then, of course, he couldn’t show the performance. 

“In all the races, Pierre showed fantastic performance, also in Monaco, and the reason why he couldn’t finishing on the fifth position was because we had problems to heat up the tyres, the hard tyres in time, and he lost a little bit too much on his out-lap and therefore Vettel and also the others could overtake him – but from his performance, I must say he is really, really doing a good job.”