Pierre Gasly has voiced his disappointment over a strategy call from AlphaTauri in the Singapore Grand Prix, claiming that the team "threw away" a stronger result. Gasly had been running as high up as sixth during the race when the team opted to pit him for slick tyres on Lap 34, making him one of the first to make the switch from the Intermediate compound. The Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel followed a few laps later, and both rejoined the track ahead of Gasly. Soon afterwards, Daniel Ricciardo benefitted from a 'free' pit-stop during a Safety Car period, pushing Gasly down to ninth. He was then overtaken by Max Verstappen in the latter stages of the event, meaning that he finished the day in P10.
Gasly: I'm not happy with our performance
Gasly couldn't hide his frustration after the race, and admitted that he didn't fully understand AlphaTauri's decision to pit him when they did. "If you don’t do a good job, that’s usually fair. It’s as simple as that," Gasly told media, including RacingNews365.com . "I think we didn’t do a good job. We were seventh, ahead of the two Aston Martins, we had everything in our hands and we threw it away because we decided to box too early. "There was no communication, no dialogue, which I don't fully understand why. We took a gamble in a moment where we didn't need to. "We boxed, everybody stayed out on track and we got over overcut by four cars." The result has left AlphaTauri down in ninth in the Constuctors' Championship, leaving Gasly even more disappointed. "Obviously, [I'm] very disappointed for all the team and all of us, because we're dropping to ninth in the [Constructors'] Championship," the Frenchman said. "Daniel was far behind us, [he] stayed out on track, as we should have done, and [he] finished P5. It's nine points that we lost, and nine important points. "I'm just sad, and not happy with our performance."
AlphaTauri will "review" Gasly pit-stop call
Gasly hopes to discuss the situation with his team in order to understand why the pit call was made. "It was clear [that it] was too early [to pit]," the one-time race winner explained. "I don't understand why we did it. I haven't spoken with them. Obviously it's something we will review, they have reasons to do it but at least we should have communicated and that wasn't the case. "In the position we were in, I don't see the point of risking it like that, and we just gave our position away. "When do we get opportunities to score P5? This year it happened once in 18 races. It's frustrating because we are all pushing really hard, and today we just didn't do the right [thing]."
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