Gasly does not recognise reported 'chaos' at Alpine
Oliver Oakes quit suddenly as team boss last week, for personal reasons after the Miami Grand Prix, with Italian former principal Flavio Briatore taking on the Briton's responsibilities.
Briatore, 75, will be the team's sixth boss in five seasons and French driver Gasly is now working with his fourth since he joined in 2023.
Soon after Oakes left, the team announced Australian rookie Jack Doohan was being dropped for Argentine reserve Franco Colapinto for at least five races from this weekend's Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
"I went to the factory on Tuesday (last week), Wednesday I was working in the simulator, I was with Flavio when all the announcements were made," Gasly told reporters at Imola on Thursday.
"It's big news but the business and what we've got to do as individuals doesn't change.
"There is no trouble within the team, there is no disagreement between anyone in the team, the vision and the directions always remain the same as they were before Miami and after Miami.
"Obviously Oli is not there and there has been the change between the drivers... but in terms of directions and pure work, this hasn't changed."
Gasly, who has scored all seven of Alpine's points so far this season, said he had taken four days off playing golf in Scotland to relax and recharge before coming to Imola.
Alpine are ninth of 10 teams after six grands prix and two sprint races.
"The headlines are not showing any of the good work that we're seeing, or that I'm seeing, at the factory or even within the racing team," said Gasly.
"I think for me it's important to keep the guys focusing on the actual work we are doing behind closed doors, because that's really good.
"Flavio has brought a lot with him and... I think the directions are very clear and we'll see some rewards and dividends over the next few weeks and months and I'm very hopeful for next season," added the Frenchman.
"But I think it's just important that we move on from this special week and focus on business as usual." REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Man United boss Amorim hails Sesko's 'great potential' after big-money move
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Friendly - Manchester United v Fiorentina - Old Trafford, Manchester, Britain - August 9, 2025 New Manchester United player Benjamin Sesko applauds fans before the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo New Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko has all the attributes needed to help bolster their attack, manager Ruben Amorim said as he hopes to unlock the 22-year-old Slovenian's full potential after his big-money move to Old Trafford. Sesko completed his 76.5-million-euro ($89-million) switch from German side RB Leipzig to United on Saturday, with a further 8.5 million euros in bonuses. He signed a contract until 2030 to complete a new-look front three alongside fellow close-season signings Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha. The Slovenia international, capped 41 times, scored 39 goals in 87 appearances across all competitions for Leipzig. "He has the characteristics that we needed," Amorim told MUTV on Saturday. "Ben is a player - with all the information that we have - that we need to stop the guy from working, not the opposite! "So that is also important. He's really young. He's good in the air, he's good at running the channels, good on the ball. I think he has great potential. I think he can improve a lot and, for sure, he is going to feel at home in our club. "He has the right character to be in this group, so I'm really happy to have him." Sesko was introduced at Old Trafford before Saturday's friendly match against Italian side Fiorentina, which United won 5-4 on penalties after drawing 1-1. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Four men arrested in Bukit Timah believed to be linked to housebreaking syndicates Singapore Criminal trial of Hyflux founder Olivia Lum and five others starts Aug 11 Singapore Profile of Kpod user has shifted from hardcore drug users to young people: Experts Tech Former data analyst creates AI tutor that assesses students based on Singapore schools' criteria Opinion I used to be impatient. Then I became a granddad Life Pixar film-maker, We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong on the lessons his S'porean parents taught him Opinion Recognising our imperfections is part of what makes Singapore whole Business The risks of using 'decoupling' to own two properties "He is going to notice, since the first day and first training, that he is in the right place," Amorim added. "He is going to a new building (at Carrington), that is also important. Things are getting better but, in the end, we need to win games." United, who have spent around 200 million pounds ($270 million) following their 15th-place finish in the Premier League last season - their lowest in the top flight in 51 years - begin their new league campaign at home against Arsenal on August 17. REUTERS
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
An unusual football finale in Italy reveals Libya's frailties
SESTO SAN GIOVANNI – On a quiet Sunday afternoon in Sesto San Giovanni, a commune on the northern outskirts of Milan, nearly a dozen police vans arrived to provide security at an aging stadium, which like the town itself had seen better days. Milan is home to one of football's fiercest global rivalries, between AC Milan and Internazionale. But the police were not there for that. Instead, they had turned out in force in case of trouble between fans of two teams whose home base was more than 1,000 miles away, in Libya. The game was part of a curious collaboration between Italian and Libyan authorities that for a second year running will see Libya's football champion crowned on Sunday in Italy, at the completion of a six-team mini-championship. The transplanted tournament is a striking example of the security and political crisis that continues to plague Libya more than a decade after the bloody overthrow of its longtime dictator, Moammar Gadhafi. It is also a measure of Libyans' passion for the sport and of the explosive enmity between Tripoli's two most successful teams, a rivalry that played out last Sunday at the Ernesto Breda Stadium outside Milan. The last time the two teams – Al Ittihad and Al Ahli Tripoli – had met was in June in Libya. Even though that game was played without fans, it ended up making global headlines about an abandoned match, an injured referee, unruly supporters storming the stadium and a team bus reduced to charred ruins. So Italian authorities were taking no chances, even though for this match, too, no supporters were allowed inside the stadium. Libya's football league mirrors its politics. One competition is played in the east, a region overseen by a military strongman, and another is played in the west, where a transitional government struggles for legitimacy. The top three teams from each side have traveled to Italy with the hope of returning home to a heroes' reception. 'Primarily, they would be worried about the security of it, and it's not like they would accept to play it on one side or the other,' Tim Eaton, a researcher at Chatham House, a research group, said as to why the tournament was moved so far from the competitors' home turf. 'Who is the neutral arbiter in the Libyan context?' Holding the tournament in Libya would not be safe for teams or fans. In May, the western half of the Libyan championship was paused as fierce fighting broke out in Tripoli, the capital, after forces loyal to the transitional government killed one of the city's top militia leaders, Abdul Ghani Al-Kikli. The militiaman, known as Ghaniwa, was also the honorary president of the Al Ahli team. Libya's current prime minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, is a former president of the Al Ittihad team. 'We've seen quite a lot of key elites and security figures having a close connection to football clubs,' Eaton said. While Italy has taken up the role of neutral arbiter, even it cannot escape the political divides that roil Libya's league. At last season's Libyan competition in Italy, the winning team's president, a son of Khalifa Hifter, the dictator who rules eastern Libya, was prevented from entering a field in Rome for the awards ceremony because Italy – like the rest of the European Union – recognizes only Libya's transitional government. The younger Hifter told his team to leave the arena, and an impromptu celebration was held instead in a parking lot outside. This year, passions are running as high as ever, even though games have been played so far from home and each team is allowed to bring only 20 invited guests to its games. A first-round match between two teams that share a common name, Al Ahli, but are from opposite sides of Libya ended abruptly with one team walking off the field and refusing to return after complaining about a referee call. But that was nothing compared with what took place a week later in Sesto, where the need for a sizable police operation, which included units of armed military police, quickly became apparent. Even though they were not permitted inside the stadium to watch the game, fans of both teams traveled from other parts of Italy, Germany, Belgium and as far as Libya itself to Milan for the occasion, which was deemed so high-risk that not even invited guests were permitted to attend. Dressed in Al Ahli's green and white jersey, Mohammed al Hamdi, 41, arrived on the morning of the game after taking two flights. Though he had little hope of getting inside the stadium, he said he just wanted to be close to the occasion. 'I'm here to support my team,' said al Hamdi, a father of four. As the number of police officers outside the stadium swelled, so did the crowd of ticketless fans. At first, supporters of both teams mingled, sharing their frustrations about not being allowed inside. Then, as the 6.30pm kickoff time neared, the tensions rose and clashes started, with some fans beating rivals with sticks and belts. The security forces leaped into action, at one point donning helmets and shields to chase after a pocket of Ittihad fans. Inside the stadium, the police were also required, though not for misbehaving supporters. At halftime, Ibrahim Dbeibeh, a 20-something son of the prime minister, swept into the grounds to offer support to his team, which seemed to have the opposite effect as it went down 4-1 after an embarrassing own goal from midfielder Mohamed Zrida that sailed over the goalkeeper from about 40 yards out. The midfielder slumped to the ground in disbelief. Moments later, the game descended into a melee that took almost 30 minutes to bring under control, with rival players and staff members kicking and punching one another, forcing the police to move in. The match eventually restarted after a warning from Valentina Battistini, the Lombardy region's top football official. One more outburst and it would all be over, she warned, as the prime minister's son and the Libyan counsel general looked on, grim-faced. The game ended with the police in riot gear standing guard in front of the winning team's bench until its opponents had cleared the field. At the gates, about 100 fans, held back by police officers in riot gear, cheered their team onto the bus. At the front of the group was al Hamdi, wearing a huge grin and showing no signs of fatigue from his two-flight journey. He had watched the game on his cellphone outside the stadium. 'I'm very happy,' he said, raising four fingers of his left hand and one on his right to revel in the score. NYTIMES
Straits Times
4 hours ago
- Straits Times
Defending champions Sabalenka, Sinner cruise through Cincinnati second round
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox World number one Aryna Sabalenka saved 12 break points to survive her Cincinnati opener against Czech Marketa Vondrousova 7-5 6-1 on Saturday, as the men's defending champion Jannik Sinner cruised past Colombian qualifier Daniel Galan 6-1 6-1. Sabalenka, who had a first-round bye, had not played since her semi-final defeat at Wimbledon and said the downtime served her well as she mounted a tremendous defensive effort to set up a meeting with Briton Emma Raducanu. "I played so many matches this season so I'm quite experienced to handle those key moments," Sabalenka told Tennis Channel. "Key for me is always to go for it without doubting my decisions. So far it's been working really well." Raducanu made easy work of Serbian Olga Danilovic 6-3 6-2 in her first match under new coach Francisco Roig, after a handful of confidence-building performances this summer that included a trip to the semi-finals at the Washington Open. "I'm really building some momentum. I'm really happy with how I've stayed pretty consistent over the last few months," said Raducanu, who lost to Sabalenka in a third-round thriller at Wimbledon this year. "I still feel like there's a long way to go but just working hard behind the scenes, putting a lot of hours in and hoping I can trust in that." Italy's Sinner, who also took a break following his Wimbledon win, was in pristine form as he produced just four unforced errors to swat aside Galan in 59 minutes earlier in the day. He will next play Canadian Gabriel Diallo. "It's very difficult to play here, I feel like the ball is flying, it's very fast," said Sinner. "So when you lose confidence with a couple of shots, it makes it very, very difficult to play." Poland's third seed Iga Swiatek was back on top form after an early exit in Montreal as she sprinted through the first set and fended off four break points in the second to beat Anastasia Potapova comfortably 6-1 6-4. She next plays Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk, who she has defeated in all three previous meetings, in the third round of the U.S. Open tune-up tournament. Australian Open winner Madison Keys had a tougher opening to her Cincinnati campaign, saving two match points to survive against German Eva Lys with a 1-6 6-3 7-6(1) win to punch her ticket to the third round where she will play Japan's Aoi Ito. "I just kept trying to listen to everyone here cheering me," said American Keys, who triumphed in 2019 and clinched Saturday's affair with an unreturnable forehand. "It helped me get back into the match and across the finish line." Earlier on Saturday, Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech upset Norwegian 11th seed Casper Ruud 6-7(5) 6-4 6-2, while eighth-seeded Italian Lorenzo Musetti lost to France's Benjamin Bonzi 5-7 6-4 7-6(4). Fourth seed Taylor Fritz sent over a dozen aces to close out the day's programme on Center Court with a routine 6-4 6-4 win over American compatriot Emilio Nava and book a meeting with Italian Lorenzo Sonego. REUTERS
