Alpine's Pierre Gasly says the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix was “the story of my life”, having taken pole position just 24 hours after his Monaco podium was stripped from him.
The Frenchman stunned on Saturday in qualifying at Monza when he snatched a first career F1 pole, six years on from his maiden victory at the same circuit. He led the opening lap of the Italian Grand Prix, but ultimately faded to seventh at the chequered flag in a result he still branded as “very positive”.
His pole and strong race, however, came after the FIA’s decision to reinstate his Monaco podium was overturned following an appeal. “Story of my life. Yeah, there’s been a lot going on,” he said on Sunday.
“For sure, the last 24 hours have been extremely fun and extremely enjoyable with all the energy, the motivation in the garage, the reaction of the whole team. I’m sure it’s going to bring a huge boost to all of us,” Gasly explained. “As I say, from where we came last year, today I was looking at the cars ahead, they were a couple of seconds in front of us, we finished 18 seconds [ahead of Arvid] Lindblad. So, the gap with the cars in front was smaller than the gap to the cars behind. It’s something we’ve got to build on, and hopefully we can repeat this kind of performance so often.”
Gasly was just under three seconds back from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton at the chequered flag in seventh, and 27.351s from race winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli. It marks his best result since the Barcelona race, following a dip in form for Alpine since then.
“I mean, the part of me that is very realistic is very satisfied,” he said of his race. “Starting from pole, you must have a side of you that thinks, ‘OK, what can happen over 54 laps?’ But, I’ve got to be honest, before the race we knew the pace in the race was going to be extremely difficult to stay up there and fight with the top guys.”
“I’m very happy with the two starts, two great starts. I managed to keep the lead on the first one. Great on the second; battled slightly, stayed in the right train for the first 10 laps, which was really good. [There was the] battle with Lando [Norris], who won the last two races. So, from where we’ve come from, it’s very positive. And to finish three seconds behind Lewis, who’s been fighting for podiums this year, was the same. So, not going to be disappointed with that. Obviously, the end results is P7; you always wish you can get more out of it. But we’ve just got to take all the positives from the weekend because there were many.”
He added that Monza was “the best car I’ve had this year”, but more work needs to be done by Alpine to fully understand it. “It’s the best car I’ve had this year and most consistent. There is some stuff that explains it and some stuff we need to understand. I have a couple of ideas on why it could be, but we need more tracks. Monza is very special and very unique, so over the next few days it will be important to understand more about it.”
Read Also
Kimi Antonelli claims his F1 best is yet to come after a sensational comeback win at Monza, extending his title lead over Russell to 66 points.
Toto Wolff admits he knew Kimi Antonelli would deliver at the 2026 Italian GP. The win from P19 proves the Mercedes boss's intuition.
Toto Wolff criticizes Kimi Antonelli's Monza mistake that could have made Mercedes look foolish, but views it as a learning step for the future.
Continue with Google
Discussion (0)
Join the Discussion!
Sign in easily to start commenting, replying, and interacting with other readers.
Latest Comments
No comments yet. Be the first!