Impact of new F1 rules ‘a bit sad’, Pierre Gasly claims

The Alpha Tauri driver has been left disappointed by how the new season is unfolding

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Pierre Gasly claims the overhaul of Formula One’s rules and regulations have widened the competitive imbalance between teams on the grid and says he has been been left “sad” by the dominance of Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes this season.

Gasly said he had expected the new changes, which were the most significant the sport had seen in a generation and were intended to narrow the gaps between teams on the grid, have not had the desired effect.

The first seven races of the season have all been won by either Red Bull or Ferrari, with those two teams also dominating qualifying and the fight for pole position. McLaren’s Lando Norris is so far the only driver outside the top three to claim a podium finish.

Gasly, meanwhile, has scored just six championship points for Alpha Tauri, after a 2021 season which saw the French driver regularly compete for top-five finishes and punch above his weight by taking on the bigger teams.

This season, however, Gasly said his ambitions have been limited to a “fight for seventh”. “I expected the field to close up together – which I think happened in the midfield,” Gasly said. “I think if you look from fourth fastest to probably the last position, actually, I think we really all bunched up quite a lot.

“But the top three is a different world. Even last year, I got excited many times because I could out-qualify Ferrari, sometimes Red Bull, sometimes Mercedes – I felt like these top three, they were faster, but they were not in such a different league that you could tease them sometimes. This year, there’s no way.

“There’s clearly like a big step between – only Bottas can challenge them at times. But they are on their own, and we’re literally fighting for seventh. Which is a bit sad, because clearly the target was to close.

“So I hope whatever solution we can find for the coming years because that’s the target and that’s what we’re all pushing [for] as drivers. We want drivers to have a bigger impact and input on the end result.”