Scuderia AlphaTauri have enjoyed a positive start to life with their 2022 challenger the AT03, as the official shakedown test came to an end at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Unfortunately for the Italian team, the final day of the three was by far the worst!
Frenchman Pierre Gasly was behind the wheel on the final day in the morning session, however it wasn’t one to remember for the Frenchman, who damaged the car resulting in no further running for the team. Before his incident Gasly had completed 40 laps and had set the fourteenth best time.
Despite the final day disappointment, Gasly believes it has been a positive test where he and the team have learnt so much about the AT03.
“It’s been a productive test and I think it’s been very interesting for everyone to see how these new cars behave on track. We’ve learnt a lot, every run, about our car and also driving wise I’ve been able to develop how to work with this new car and get the most out of it. I think it’s been really good.
“Obviously, you can’t really look at any sort of performance at the moment, so this test has really been about focusing on myself and trying to get good feedback so the team can understand what you need from the car as a driver, to find more performance.
“I must say, it feels quite different to drive these cars – it obviously is visually but also how it responds too, even the way you get into the corner and braking. I’ve been trying a variety of things and fine-tuning my driving to work with the car balance that we have, this is all part of the learning process.
“Unfortunately, I locked up my tyres during the morning running and damaged the car, but testing is about finding the limits and we’ve still been able to gather a lot of valuable data over the three days. This is of course only the first test, and we have a lot to analyse before the three more days of testing in Bahrain.”
“I need to make some more adaptations” – Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda was due to run in the afternoon session on the final day, however due to the damage caused by Gasly the Japanese driver was unable to take part. It means Tsunoda missed out on vital running in the new generation car, meaning the young driver might be playing catch-up at the official test in Bahrain.
Nevertheless Tsunoda has enjoyed his time in Barcelona but recognises his driving style needs to change more to suit the AT03.
“It’s been a good three days of testing here in Barcelona, it’s been really productive, and we’ve learnt a lot about the new car. I’ve been really excited to get back driving since Abu Dhabi, especially knowing that it’s a whole new car, and I’ve really enjoyed my time getting to know the AT03.
“There’s still a lot to do ahead of the next test in Bahrain, from my side I need to make some more adaptations to my driving style to suit this new car but overall, it’s been a really positive test. It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to complete the afternoon session today but it’s testing, and these things happen. We’ve still got three days in Bahrain before the first race, so we need to prepare as much as possible ahead of this so that we can start the season off well.”
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