Pierre Gasly has explained how his frustrations with a continued braking problem led to his angry radio message during qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. The AlphaTauri driver was hit by brake issues when trying to set his first flying lap of Q2, with the lock-up ruining his attempt. Following this, an angry Gasly said over team radio: "Why do we keep having this problem? Turn 1, 11 – it's the same sh*t. Second weekend in a row." Gasly went on to qualify in 13th, though will be promoted to 11th due to Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso taking grid penalties.
Gasly explains frustrations over braking issue
Speaking afterwards, Gasly revealed that the braking problem was a repeat of one he had previously experienced in other 2022 qualifying sessions. "We glazed the front brakes – same as Japan and same as Canada," the Frenchman told media, including RacingNews365.com . "So clearly not ideal. Especially the second weekend in a row is something that should not happen. "I'm just extremely disappointed because all weekend I felt good in the car and I do believe there was potential to be in the top 10. "But then in these conditions, it’s just front locking in every corner and just can't decelerate anywhere. So need to get on top of that."
What caused the problem?
Gasly is currently unclear on why the issue with the brakes arose again in Austin. "It's happened three times with a new set of brakes," he explained. "Canada was in wet conditions, so you can't really apply a lot of brake energy into the brakes. Suzuka is a kind of low-energy track as well for the brakes. "Here, it’s not really low-energy, so I'm not really sure. Talking with Daniel [Ricciardo], he had the same issue in FP3. "But on our side it's clearly something we need to get on top of because it cost us in Suzuka, it cost us again this weekend and on the season where we need to capitalise on every opportunity we can have, it just shouldn't happen."
Gasly explains angry radio message
In terms of why he felt so frustrated – as was evident from his radio mesage – Gasly admitted that the persistence of the problem was at the root. "We try so hard to extract every hundredth out of the car," the 26-year-old – who will race for Alpine in 2023 – added. "Everybody at the track, everybody at the factory, myself – you put so much work into it and when it's the time to deliver, you get something, an external problem where it’s just screwing us. "It can happen once, but when it's the second time in a row and third time this season, it just shouldn't happen at that level. So it’s something to check with CI [brake supplier Carbone Industrie], and [it's] just something we've got to fix."
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