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When the national anthems had long been played at the Autodromo di Monza, Pierre Gasly was left alone on the podium. He wiped the remnants of champagne from his face with his hand, repeatedly shaking his head as the last of the confetti fell on him.
It was probably the first moment that afternoon that the 24-year-old began to realize what he had accomplished. As an outsider, he had won the chaotic Italian Grand Prix at Alpha Tauri. For Gasly it was the first victory of his career in Formula 1, so the Scuderia Alpha Tauri, the first since 2008, a certain Sebastian Vettel also won at Monza, at that time still under the name Toro Rosso.
In the Mecca of Ferrari they let “Fratelli d’Italia” play at a time when Ferrari is not competitive. Both Vettel and Charles Leclerc had not experienced the restart on lap 28 after Leclerc entered the track barrier (lap 23), Vettel was already eliminated on lap six. Ferrari experienced a debacle, Gasly a sensation. For him it was also a satisfaction.
Toro Rosso, Red Bull and back
There are memorable moments behind the French driver. Gasly has been driving in Formula 1 since late 2017; on Red Bull’s sister team, he indicated his potential. When Daniel Ricciardo moved to Renault alongside Max Verstappen at Red Bull after disputes over hierarchy, Gasly took over Ricciardo’s cockpit at the ambitious racing team just one year after his Formula 1 debut.
Gasly rarely lived up to Red Bull’s high standards. He had a lot of trouble getting used to the new car. In early testing at Red Bull, he found himself in the lane twice, which had affected his self-confidence. Even then, voices had been raised that Gasly was not ready for the cockpit. Red Bulls Motorsport director Helmut Marko said Gasly is not yet at Verstappen’s level, “but we didn’t expect that either.”
Demonstrated on Netflix
While Verstappen regularly fought for victory or at least for the podium, the Frenchman never made it to the podium. The Netflix documentary “Drive to Survive” shows how Marko and Red Bull team boss Christian Horner talk about Gasly during this time. “Gasly is bad,” Marko said in the pits, and Horner: “He loses four tenths in the last two corners, I think we could both do that too.” It was a humiliation, but it was only made public after the episode was delayed and aired in February of this year.
Gasly was traded at Red Bull long before. Before summer break in August 2019, Red Bull announced that it would replace him with Alexander Albon. Gasly’s dream came to an end after twelve races when he failed as a driver for a top team.
But it got worse for him. Just two weeks after the announcement of the new change, French Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert was killed in a racing accident at Spa. They had known each other since school, and Gasly and Hubert lived together in one room for six years. Two weeks ago, at the Belgian Grand Prix, I was laying flowers at the crash site.
“The best day of my life”
Back at Toro Rosso, things were looking up for him and he took second place in Brazil in the penultimate race of the 2019 season. “This is the best day of my life,” he said on the pit radio after crossing the line. goal. That was almost a year ago.
Meanwhile, the situation around Gasly has calmed down. After the good performances, Toro Rosso gave him a contract for the new season. And he delivered: he reached the top ten four times, at Monza for the fifth time. But the Thai Alex Albon is having a hard time at Red Bull in the shadow of Verstappen, and the voices are once again loud that they want to anticipate the next return of the Gasly team. It’s not that far off yet, especially since Albon has a considerable position in Red Bull thanks to the shares of the Thai Yoovidhya family in the beverage company.
In Italy, Gasly was forced to restart, taking the lead with a penalty against Lewis Hamilton – the race was on his side. And although in the end he drove slower lap times than his rival Carlos Sainz, he saved the victory with an advantage of four tenths. “I’m not a quitter,” Gasly said after the race. “I always had to fight for everything in my life.”
Gasly’s success at Monza is special, especially in the days of series winners like Lewis Hamilton. He didn’t want to leave the podium at all. Gasly said, “You never know how often you will experience these moments.”
