Pierre Gasly puzzled by sudden 'fundamental' Alpine mystery

Pierre Gasly is facing a sudden and unexplained loss of performance in his Alpine, describing a "fundamental" issue that has plagued him since the Miami Grand Prix. Despite a strong start to the season with points in four of five races, Gasly struggled all weekend in Canada, qualifying 14th and salvaging only eighth place in a race he called "damage limitation."

Why it matters:

• Gasly sits eighth in the standings, the highest non-Mercedes/McLaren/Ferrari/Red Bull driver, but his recent struggles highlight a worrying inconsistency within Alpine. Teammate Franco Colapinto finished sixth in Canada, exposing a significant car-to-car performance gap.

The details:

• Gasly said the problem started from the first practice session in Miami: "On my side we're absolutely nowhere. I couldn't brake, couldn't turn in, couldn't accelerate. There was no grip."
• The data confirms a clear difference, but the team has not yet identified the root cause. Gasly insists it is not setup-related: "It's something more fundamental... we see it on the data, but we haven't found the fixes yet."
• He ruled out taking upgrades off as the simple explanation, hinting at a deeper engineering mystery that may involve chassis or correlation issues between the two sides of the garage.

What's next:

• Alpine will return to the factory before Monaco to analyze the data and hope to restore Gasly's lost feeling. Given the sudden nature of the problem, resolving it quickly will be critical for both his championship standing and team morale.