The two touched on the restart after the first red flag, with Gasly losing what the team later estimated was around 33 points of downforce, equating to a potential lap time impact of up to 0, 7 to 0.9 seconds.
Ocon also suffered some damage and subsequently both drivers had an even trickier race than expected with the difficult A524, ultimately finishing 15th and 16th, with Gasly behind.
“We had an incredible first start and managed to gain three positions,” Gasly said.
“The second start was very good, I managed to overtake Esteban and join Yuki [Tsunoda]and then unfortunately I found myself sandwiched, with Yuki turning left and Esteban turning right.
“He [Ocon] hit me and took the entire left side of my car floor off.
“I was therefore down, the team thinks, by a little less than 40 points of support. So after that it was pretty much game over. I was trying to stay there hoping for another red flag to change things.
“That was about it, just a racing incident but it cost us dearly. It was a very, very long, very long and very difficult afternoon.
Gasly said the Enstone team had at least made progress in Japan after introducing a package including a significantly modified front wing.
Press conference, Pierre Gasly, Alpine F1 Team
Photo by: Motorsport Images
“On the positive side, we had the first round of upgrades which apparently met our expectations,” he said. “So it was very positive.
“We just need to focus on these new parts and improvements on the car. I know the team works really hard, we just need it. Obviously, [Suzuka was] not very representative of what we had.
“But overall we know we are still too slow and we need to find more performance, and I know they are working very hard on that.
“I appreciate that they managed to get this first upgrade this weekend, now we need to get the next set as quickly as possible.”
Asked by Autosport when the next upgrade is expected, he replied: “Not for China. There are things, but obviously it continues to evolve because we are in a situation where we can make more important decisions.
“So we’ll see exactly what we do.” But new parts will arrive in the next races.
Acknowledging that it will take time for Alpine to have the chance to take a significant step forward, Gasly added: “I think in the medium term we need a big thing.
“I think [we can] We still need to improve this at the moment, because this type of concept car does not meet our expectations. But in the meantime, whatever we can do each weekend will potentially bring us closer to the end of the points at some point.
“So at the moment we are clearly at the back of this kind of second league. But every tenth we get as early as possible will make a difference at the end of the year. »
Watch: F1 Japanese Grand Prix 2024 Review – Normal Service Resumption
