AlphaTauri arrived to race day in Austin hopeful of a result that would make the team get closer to Alpine on the constructors’ table after both Gasly and Tsunoda had made it to Q3 on the Qualifying on Saturday.

However, it was just on lap 14 when car #10 had to retire from the race taking place at the COTA alluring a suspension failure in addition to the sensor problem the AT02 was dealing with prior to the lights going out.

“It was quite eventful, we had a sensor problem on the grid, which the team managed to fix. But then after the start of the race, we had a suspension failure which got worse lap by lap until the moment it completely failed, so we had to retire the car.”

“Being fully objective, I think we didn’t have the pace to fight the McLarens and Ferraris. But a ninth place, and the two cars in the points, was possible,” the French driver commented to the official F1 channel.

“It's very frustrating because we know every point counts at this stage in our midfield battle. It would have been really good to go until the end of this race.”

yessss yuuuukii!!! 💪 @yukitsunoda07 crosses the line and brings home the points in P9! 👏 pic.twitter.com/KND6EZ1u1a

— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) October 24, 2021

As Gasly specified, the battle AlphaTauri is holding with Alpine will be crucial to decide the team that finishes 5^th on the constructors’ championship. With Alonso and Ocon scoring a DNF for the French team, the crew that’s based in Faenza is now just 10 points away from the Hungarian GP winners.

The team stated that it will be crucial solving Gasly’s problem to face the last races of the season, especially Mexico, as the Formula 1 head to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for a new round of the 2021 calendar: “Is something we need to ensure we have understood and resolved ahead of the next race. The objective is to continue this form and keep the pressure on for fifth in the constructors’ championship,”  said AlphaTauri’s Technical Director Jody Egginton.