Gasly discovers Alpine 'confidence' after Bahrain recovery

Pierre Gasly has revealed a newfound confidence at Alpine after recovering from a back-of-the-grid start to score points at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Frenchman endured a nightmare start to his Alpine career when, after qualifying 17th - a result that saw him eliminated in Q1 - his time was deleted for a track limits infringement and he was relegated to the back.

But Gasly put this behind him on Sunday and aided by the troubles of some rival drivers, he climbed to ninth, securing two world championship points.

Speaking to Canal+, Gasly said: “We know what we need to work on.

"After only one race, it’s obvious that the top three haven’t changed (although) there is Aston (Martin) who have taken a big step forward.

"I don’t think we need to panic. We just need to concentrate and we’ll have to develop during the season.

"(Alpine) showed that they could do it last year, There is no reason why the team can’t do it this year.

"I’m confident and I think we have a good base to work from. There’s still a lot of work to do to get more but it’s nice to start this season in the points.”

READ MORE: Ferrari haunted by ghosts of F1 past as Aston Martin embarrass rivals - What we learned at the Bahrain GP

Gasly impressed by Alpine 'aggression'

Gasly's progress through the field went largely unnoticed by the watching cameras, with the lenses instead focused on the action towards the front of the field.

Giving an assessment of his race, the Frenchman added: "I’m happy.

"It was a really good race. I think we did the best we could. We were aggressive. We tried to use the performance of the car a little bit by moving away from the others and we managed to come back.”

READ MORE: F1 Schedule 2023: Dates, times and TV details for all races

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