Pierre Gasly blames Yuki Tsunoda for their Monaco ...

Pierre Gasly has blamed the collision that took him out of the Monaco Grand Prix on his former Method 1 team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, claiming the latter moved beneath braking.

Tsunoda and Gasly had been working seventeenth and 18th – after making their first mandatory pitstop as early as lap 1 – when the Alpine driver attacked his Crimson Bull peer on the chicane.

Gasly violently crashed into Tsunoda, with the TV broadcast that includes a “no brakes” radio message. Nevertheless, the Frenchman has clarified that this remark was taken out of context.

“I had the brakes,” he insisted. “Yuki made a mistake earlier than the tunnel, so I obtained very near him.

“Each lap he was braking on the racing line on the best. This lap I used to be very shut, so I made a decision to remain on the left. He began braking on the left, I dedicated to the best after which he moved again onto the racing line. I used to be already committing and braking later than him, so I simply could not go wherever.

“For me, right here, you have to stick with your line. You have already got no house to place two automobiles collectively. You may defend the place, however then it is not a case of ‘I am going proper, I shut the door to the best after which should you attempt to go left, I squeeze you to the left as effectively’. It is a monitor the place it is already arduous sufficient. I simply thought, ‘he’ll go away the house’.

“I am certain we’ll chat about it, however I do not assume it was his best second.”

Nevertheless, when Gasly’s feedback had been put to the Japanese racer – rephrased as “erratic driving” – an astonished Tsunoda exclaimed: “What? I do not assume I did something improper.

“I’d do the identical if I had yet one more time – as a result of I used to be hugging the wall on a regular basis. I knew he would attempt to overtake, and I did not need to transfer beneath braking.”

Regardless, it was one more troublesome weekend for Alpine, which suffered its worst qualifying session of the season with Gasly in 18th and team-mate Franco Colapinto final; the Argentine took thirteenth place within the race.

Gasly nonetheless anticipated the Monte Carlo monitor to not swimsuit Alpine’s A525 automobile.

“For me, it is primarily about understanding what did not actually work in qualifying, which I feel we have already got some concepts [about] – however we additionally know this monitor would at all times spotlight some weaknesses of the automobile by way of journey,” he identified.

“The journey usually, we all know, isn’t the power of our automobile. It is on a monitor like this the place you are going very low velocity, you go over kerbs, you are three-wheeling in lots of locations. We’re simply missing compliance for the time being.”

Gasly expects a a lot better displaying this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix, on a diametrically opposed structure the place Alpine obtained each automobiles in Q3 and in points-paying positions final yr.

“I feel Barcelona needs to be higher. It is extra high-speed corners. It is a smoother monitor floor, so I feel it needs to be higher.”