Pierre Gasly has secured the first pole position for a Frenchman since Jean Alesi in 1997. The Italian Grand Prix weekend has already proven to be a real rollercoaster for the Alpine driver, who lost his podium place for the GP Monaco on Friday. For Gasly – who shouted out of joy when he crossed the finish line with the fastest time at Monza – it served as extra motivation: “Although I could have done this weekend without that news.”
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For Pierre Gasly, it takes some getting used to sitting in the press conference after qualifying at Monza. The Frenchman had never before achieved pole position in Formula 1. That was also the first thought for the Alpine driver when he crossed the finish line with the fastest time.
“It’s been a very long time since I took a pole position, and that was in Formula 2,” he begins. “It’s so difficult in Formula 1, and in my nine years in this class I never had the car to really compete at the front of the field. Today was the first time. When I crossed the finish line, I just shouted. I was probably just babbling nonsense, I was so happy.”
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Monaco as motivation
The Italian Grand Prix weekend has so far proven to be a rollercoaster for Gasly. On Friday he heard that he had lost his podium place for the GP Monaco. The International Court of Appeal upheld the Frenchman’s time penalties, causing him to drop back to seventh place. “I don’t want to say too much more about that,” Gasly says. “It’s not a nice situation, but I tried to use everything to still make something positive out of it. It was extra motivation, but I could have done this weekend without that news.”
The speed of the Alpine even came as a surprise to George Russell – who had to settle for second place on the grid. For Gasly, it was a matter of peaking at the right moment. “In FP2 the car already felt okay. Then we made changes for FP3, and that gave me confidence. We then knew there was more in it. During my last fast lap I just knew I would be quick. In the end, it came down to a perfect execution by the whole team. I was able to put together the perfect lap when it mattered. So it wasn’t down to one factor.”
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