Jody Egginton says Scuderia AlphaTauri are ‘looking forward to the challenge’ of getting to the front of the midfield in 2022 after he oversaw a mixed bag of results in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.
Yuki Tsunoda climbed from sixteenth on the grid to finish eighth to score points for the Faenza-based team, but Pierre Gasly was forced to retire when on course for the top ten due to a sudden catastrophic failure at the back of his AT-03.
Gasly’s retirement also compromised Tsunoda, who had just pitted, with several drivers able to jump ahead of him thanks to getting effectively a free pit stop. However, the Japanese racer was able to push until the end and claimed four points for the team.
Egginton, the Technical Director at AlphaTauri, was happy that both drivers were able to show good pace at the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday evening, with both making gains from their starting spots.
And he says the race in the desert has given the team ideas of where they need to focus their development if they are to move up the grid and fight at the front of the midfield battle in 2022.
“Both cars have been quite competitive in the midfield tonight and were able to deliver strong performances, moving forward during the race, which is good to see so early in the season,” said Egginton. “Pierre was looking on course for a very strong race before his issue, which was instant and without any warning.
“Unfortunately, the safety car which followed Pierre’s stoppage went against Yuki, who had just boxed. This provided some cars around him with an opportunity to stop for free, meaning he was a bit further back when the safety car came in.
“However, some strong laps in his last stint saw him come home in P8, which is a good result for him and the team considering the less than ideal weekend Yuki had here.
“The competition in the midfield is looking very tight, and with the first weekend under our belt we now have a clearer picture on where we need to focus our attention to improve the AT03 in the coming events. We are looking forward to the challenge.”