Pierre Gasly puzzled by sudden 'fundamental' Alpine mystery

Pierre Gasly has explained the sudden "fundamental" issues he is facing with his Alpine F1 car, despite a strong start to the season. 

Gasly has scored points in four of the five grands prix thus far and also picked up a point over the Miami GP weekend, finishing eighth in the Sprint before his early retirement after being flipped over by Liam Lawson. 

The Frenchman is the highest-placed non-Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, or Max Verstappen-driven Red Bull in the standings in eighth place, but despite finishing eighth in Canada, Gasly was struggling throughout the weekend, believing his side of the garage was "absolutely nowhere."

In contrast, team-mate Franco Colapinto finished a strong sixth as the one-time grand prix winner explained the sudden loss of feeling he had experienced.

"I don't really know what's going on since Miami, but at the moment on my side we're absolutely nowhere," a downbeat Gasly reflected after qualifying in Montreal. 

"It was an easy top 10, the car was quite consistent, but I couldn't brake, couldn't turn in, couldn't accelerate. There was no grip. 

"Hopefully, the team can help to find these answers.

"You can ask the team, but I am not going to comment [on taking upgrades off], but there is just more to it, because it's a case of fundamentally, something not clicking since Miami, and there is a lot of work to do. 

"I think it is something more fundamental [than upgrades], which we're trying to understand, and on the data, there is quite clearly stuff which does not make sense, but we haven't found the fixes yet."

After what he then called a "damage-limitation" race to eighth place in the grand prix for his fourth points score from five grands prix, Gasly expanded further on the mystery. 

"It was the same thing, and we saw it from the first lap of practice in Miami," he said.

"We see it on the data, it is pretty clear on what is happening, and we've just got to understand where it comes from, and that'll be part of the work for Monaco. That's why I'm happy finishing P8 from 14th. 

"I can just feel what I feel, and you can see on the data the difference, but I don't think it is set-up related.

"We just need to get back to the factory, understand a bit more because there is performance, but since Miami, clearly something has changed in terms of extracting potential, and I need to get it back."