In the end, Pierre Gasly succeeded. Up to three-quarters of the season, Alpine seemed destined to battle Sauber to avoid being at the bottom of the 2024 Constructors’ Championship. However, in the final third of the season, they made such a strong comeback that they finished 6th, narrowly beating a very competitive Haas team.
The A524 improved significantly, allowing Gasly to finish 10th in the Drivers’ Championship. The Frenchman then contributed by finishing 24 races without a single euro (or dollar) spent on his car’s damages.
“I had a very clear goal at Yas Marina, actually, I had three: help Alpine secure 6th place in the Constructors’ Championship, achieve 10th place in the Drivers’ Championship, and finish the season perfectly in terms of incidents, with zero damages and zero euros spent on my car from this point of view. And, yes, I succeeded!” Gasly stated after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“I believe Flavio (Briatore) was happy not just for the 10 million I brought to Alpine today thanks to 6th place in the Constructors, but also for the money not spent on my car.”
After the season concluded, Gasly and Alpine took stock. Following a rough start, the team was reorganized, and step by step, they found a balance that worked, with the final comeback being the clearest indication that the path taken was the right one.
“The first part of the season was very tough for us. An extremely low point, but we managed to turn it around. We had a car that couldn’t perform, but we are really proud of the reaction we had, and I am also proud of the guys at the factory, who provided me with a much stronger car in the final races. That allowed me to get great results.”
“This shows that we managed to find the right direction, that the mentality and spirit within the team are right. Already in April and May, I saw a lot of progress at the factory, even though it wasn’t immediately visible on track. Two months later, however, we started to pick up the pace.”
“The thing I am most happy about is that now we have correlation between what we find in the factory and what we see on track in terms of performance. Everything we found and put on the car allowed us to make progress. This shows what we are doing with our wind tunnel, CFD, and everything else. Our personnel deserve trust. And I believe this end-of-season result should be a huge boost for the team and for the work we need to do this winter.”
Flavio Briatore’s return to Enstone not only brought balance to a team that needed order but also instilled new ambitions.
“In terms of ambition, we’re doing really well. With the arrival of Flavio Briatore and Ollie Oakes, we have high goals. They have clear objectives for the team, and for now, we have a very honest and transparent relationship.”
“They value my feedback, my input to the team. I want a faster car. I want to fight at the front, and I believe that at Enstone, there is really a lot of potential to build a high-level car. We didn’t show that at the start of the year, but later on, we showed everything we know how to do thanks to what they were able to develop.”
“We’ll need to start with a stronger base, and we hope next season can be better. I told the team that it was nice to race in third place, but next year, I want more.”
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