AlphaTauri finished the 2021 Formula 1 season in sixth place in the Constructors' Standings, but a year of a radical regulation changes resulted in a drop to P9 in 2022. The new regulations were designed to help bring the teams closer on track, with the Italian team hoping for an improvement. However, it turned out to be a mediocre finish for AlphaTauri, as they struggled to keep up with the rate of development of others, according to Pierre Gasly. "We had high expectations after the previous season and the momentum was there," Gasly told the media, including RacingNews365.com . "The new regulations were supposed to bring the field closer together, so my hopes for AlphaTauri's best year had never been higher than at the start of the season. "We weren't in shape at the beginning of the year, but I wasn't worried then. It was going to be a development battle, but that didn't work out for us."
Gasly: AlphaTauri car suffered from excess weight
Gasly explained that the team's lack of development led to them having a heavy car throughout the year, which had a knock-on effect on their performance throughout a race weekend. The Frenchman added: "It's not so much that the car is bad, but we've suffered from being extremely overweight all season. "That cost us a lot in qualifying and that was the biggest problem that prevented us from performing as we had hoped." "If you ask me, we had the better car from the start of the season, but because of the excess weight of 12 or 13 kilos we couldn't compete. "You're talking about three tenths or more per lap that we missed in qualifying. I can't even remember how many times we missed Q3 because we were just a tenth short. "And you also take all that weight back into the race. It's like running with a backpack. You start the race with a car that's too heavy, so your tyres wear faster and you lose performance every time."
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