
Gasly blasts the FIA over ‘porpoising’ issue
Pierre Gasly has joined a long list of drivers in criticising the FIA for the persistent porpoising issue after discussing the situation during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly has joined a long list of drivers in criticising the FIA for the persistent porpoising issue after discussing the situation during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly considering other options after hopes of a second chance at Red Bull were shattered last week when they confirmed that Sergio Perez had signed a new two-year contract extension with the team
According to Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, the driver lineup for AlphaTauri in 2023 will remain unchanged.
Pierre Gasly blames Fernando Alonso for his misfortunes following their incident at Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly is hoping for a clean weekend of racing as Formula 1 makes its maiden visit to Miami. The Frenchman had a rough weekend at Imola last time around, which made judging the strengths of the AT03’s improvements impossible.
Pierre Gasly is the latest Formula 1 driver to criticize Drive To Survive, alleging that the popular reality show features sequences that are “sort of made up.”
Pierre Gasly may be in line for a second shot at Red Bull in the future, according to Helmut Marko.
Pierre Gasly was fastest on the opening day of Bahrain testing, nearly half a second ahead of the Ferraris.
Pierre Gasly has hailed his performance in Mexican GP as AlphaTauri moved level with Alpine in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship Gasly finished comfortably ahead of the two Ferraris to finish fourth at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. It was a lonely race for the AlphaTauri driver, finishing over 17 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc in fifth. “I’m extremely happy, yes. It’s been a fantastic weekend – fifth in quali and fourth in the race,” Gasly said. “Everything was under control with Charles [Leclerc] behind and I could pull away nicely. I managed the whole race, so no, just a fantastic day.” Mexico was an important race for Gasly having not scored in three of the previous four races before the Mexican GP. “Yes exactly. Especially in the last four races… we had two DNFs even though the pace was there. But this weekend, the car was there, we delivered yesterday in quali, we delivered today in the race and finishing [ahead of] the two Ferraris always feels nice.” The result means AlphaTauri sits level on points with Alpine in the race for fifth in the constructors’ championship – the French outfit is ahead on countback thanks to Esteban Ocon’s win at the Hungaroring. Brazil is next up in F1 – the scene of Pierre Gasly’s maiden podium for Toro Rosso back in 2019. “We’re equal on points with Alpine now,” he added. “So it’s my personal target to give that to Franz so I can have a nice Christmas gift at the end of the year! So we’ll keep pushing for that and looking at our work as a team. I think we have our chances and we’ll fight until the end.”
The Istanbul stewards explain why Pierre Gasly was handed a time penalty for his first corner clash with Fernando Alonso. Heading into Turn 1 left-hander at the start of Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix, Sergio Perez was on the inside, with Pierre Gasly to his right and Fernando Alonso on the outside. As they jostled for position, the AlphaTauri clipped the Alpine sending it into a spin and thereby dropping Alonso from 5th to 16th. “I was sandwiched,” Gasly immediately told his team. Usually, in the mad scramble for position at the start of a race, particularly in such conditions, such a clash would be viewed as a ‘racing incident’, but in this case the stewards felt Gasly was “predominantly” to blame. “Gasly tried to negotiate Turn 1 with Perez on the inside and Alonso on the outside,” they explained. Alonso was slightly in front of Gasly at the exit of the corner when both cars made contact, causing the Spaniard to spin. “The Stewards determine that Gasly was predominantly at fault for the collision, as he did not leave enough space for Alonso on the outside. “It should also be pointed out that the Stewards do not consider this incident as an unavoidable Lap 1 Turn 1 contact between two cars,” they added, “as Gasly was not sandwiched between two cars when he touched Alonso’s car.” “If we go back to the start of the year, if you recall, pre the first event was that following discussions with the drivers and the teams we had to sort of ratchet back a little bit, the let them race principles in general,” race director, Michael Masi subsequently explained. “And one of them was first-lap incidents, and that if a driver was wholly to blame for an incident, then it would likely result in a penalty. “And that one there was the stewards determined that Pierre was wholly to blame for the incident. And as a result, a five-second penalty was imposed.” Asked how that compared to the first lap clash at Imola involving Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, Masi said: “If you look at the Max and Lewis one, it’s one of those, the wholly or predominantly, under our regulations. “So we’ve said, and the way that for ease of interpretation, let’s call it, for everyone’s benefit, is that if someone is wholly to blame on lap one, it will result in a penalty. “If it takes two to tango, then it would be likely on lap one not result in anything, or if there’s more than the two cars involved. But if it’s quite clear, two cars, one has done it, then a penalty would happen.” Asked if Perez has played a part in Sunday’s incident, Masi said: “That was one of the things why it probably took a little bit longer at the start to have a closer look at, is that obviously Sergio was on the inside, but once it was quite clear from all of the footage and everything available, that’s why they determined that it was a five second penalty.” “There was contact and I haven’t really seen the footage” said Gasly. “For me it was tight with Sergio inside me and Fernando was on the outside, so honestly there wasn’t space, but yes there was contact. “I did the penalty,” he added, “I don’t know if it was the right thing or not. I need to look at the footage first. “I saw Fernando was there, I also saw Sergio was there, and I tried to go where I could. We know it is always usually not a good mix when there are that many cars. I don’t have any other similar situation that comes to mind. That is just the way it is.” Ironically, Alonso subsequently picked up his own penalty for clashing with Mick Schumacher. “Alonso tried to make a move on Schumacher at the inside at the approach to Turn 4, but never got in a position to complete the move and made contact with the inside rear wheel of the Haas, causing it to spin,” said the stewards, who deemed that Alonso – like Gasly moments earlier – was “predominantly to blame”. The Spaniard was also handed 2 penalty points, his first since his return to the sport.