It was a weekend of shattered promise. The Sarthe-based team, which was clearly the fastest as proved by Pierre Gasly’s first pole position and its pace in the early stages of the race on Saturday, left Monza almost empty-handed. It all went wrong for DAMS with a mechanical problem for the Frenchman and an unfortunate accident for Alex Lynn plus penalties. Despite the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, the team can look forward to the future with confidence thanks to the dominant level of performance it showed on the legendary Italian circuit.
Weather conditions: sun, summer temperatures.
Free practice: P1 for Gasly, P8 for Lynn.
Qualifying: P1 for the Frenchman (1m31.27sec), P3 for the Englishman (1m31.62sec after
Evans was relegated from P2).
Main race: Galsy made a great start on the option tyre and he opened up a gap of almost
three seconds in three laps. He was helped by the ding-dong battle for second place, which
was won by his team-mate. After a safety car deployment Gasly opened up the gap again
before his pit stop. Unfortunately, a transmission problem on the exit from the pit lane
brought his race to a terminal halt. Alex took up the chase and was locked in battle with
Sirotkin and Vandoorne for first place. His overtaking move on the Belgian for second place
at the end of the pits straight ended in a spectacular collision with the Russian in the
chicane. Alex’s car flew into the air and luckily landed back on its wheels, but its race was
over on the spot.
Sprint race: Lynn was penalised for the incident with Sirotkin and started from the pit lane.
It was the same story for Gasly because of a technical detail in the regulation applied to the
letter by a zealous scrutineer. The DAMS drivers carved their way back up through the field,
but were bottled up for a long time behind Cecotto and saw the flag in 10th (Alex) and 12th
(Pierre) places.
Pierre Gasly: “The only word that springs to mind is frustration. It all went off very well for me in free practice and in qualifying, and I’m very happy to have scored my first pole position. The car was just simply fantastic. It’s terrible to see a victory being lost due to a technical problem, but that’s racing. On Sunday, it was difficult to battle my way up through the field but it was a good fight. At least I’m convinced that we’re now going to be in the mix for victory each time out.”
Alex Lynn: “It was a missed opportunity. I’m also very sorry for Sergey Sirotkin as his race on Saturday was ruined at the same time as mine. It was the first time I used the DRS in that spot to overtake Vandoorne. I was carried along by the momentum and I braked a fraction too late. It was a real pity as the car was really extraordinary this weekend. Given what we showed at Monza we’ll be in a position to fight for victory in the next round. ”
François Sicard, Managing Director: “At the risk of repeating myself the result doesn’t at all reflect the level of our cars’ performance. It was a perfect weekend – until Friday evening! Pierre showed in a convincing manner that he was the quickest; he was stopped by a transmission failure that we’ve never had before! Alex’s accident was not caused by excessive optimism, but was simply due to an error of judgment concerning his braking point in traffic. Despite this up-and-down weekend we’re feeling optimistic for the coming races.”
Monza in figures
Pierre Gasly: retired, P12
Alex Lynn: retired, P11
Classification drivers’ championship
1. S. Vandoorne, 261 points ; 2. A. Rossi, 153 ; 3. S. Sirotkin, 115… 6. A. Lynn, 86 ; 7. P. Gasly, 65.
Classification teams’ championship:
1. ART, 309 points ; 2. Racing Engineering, 199; 3. Campos Racing, 166 ; 4. DAMS, 151.
Next round: Sotchi (Russia), 9-11 October.