Japan – Francophone Assessment: Leclerc Disappointing and Gasly Sparkling
Chaotic start for Charles Leclerc, while Pierre Gasly took advantage of the chaos ahead to have a great race. Conversely, Romain Grosjean struggled a lot at the wheel of his Haas.
Charles Leclerc: 7th (2nd on the grid)
Qualified second on the grid just behind his teammate, Charles Leclerc logically had high hopes of winning the race.
Unfortunately for him, things did not go as planned. At the first corner, Max Verstappen tries to overtake the Monegasque on the outside. Understeering, the Ferrari hits the Red Bull. An accident with heavy consequences for the Dutchman as he would retire a little later in the race. On his side, Leclerc loses part of his front wing and his left mirror.
He stopped on the third lap after leaving quite a bit of debris on the track, not without blocking Lewis Hamilton, and even broke the Briton’s mirror with a flying piece of carbon.
« Very honestly, I didn’t see what happened from the outside. From the inside, I was on the inside of the corner, I had Sebastian and Valtteri in front of me, I understeered and we collided. » explains the Monegasque at the finish.
Forced to make a crazy comeback, Leclerc succeeded in his mission to climb up the standings, crossing the checkered flag in 6th position, 7th after two penalties. While he salvaged the situation, it’s undeniable that a better position was possible at the finish, perhaps even a podium.
« We were lacking speed compared to Mercedes. After that, I had fun coming back from behind but it’s definitely not the result we were looking for today.
Pierre Gasly: 8th (9th on the grid)
The Frenchman surely thrilled Japanese fans today. Starting 9th on the grid, Gasly took advantage of the numerous clashes ahead of him to remain in 6th place for a large part of the race.
Behind his rival for the second Red Bull seat in 2020, the Frenchman spent the second half of the race watching his mirrors, with Lance Stroll becoming increasingly insistent. It was not the Canadian who ultimately passed Gasly for seventh position but Daniel Ricciardo with softer tires that were less worn than the Frenchman’s medium tires nearing the end of their life.
Agonizing with his tires nearing the end of the race, the Toro Rosso driver logically showed a much slower pace than his pursuers. Sergio Perez seized this chance to try to pass the Norman on the outside at the first corner. A maneuver similar to Verstappen’s at the start of the race, except this time the consequences are more severe. The Mexican and the Frenchman lightly touch, and the former crashes into the wall. Gasly emerges from this race incident unscathed but with four points for the Italian team, which is in dire need of them to maintain its 6th place in the Constructors’ Championship.
« It was a great race, it was tough. We had suspension problems until the end, which made the second stint really complicated. I tried to give it my all, I knew they were really close behind. In the end, Daniel and Sergio were coming back strong. I had contact with Sergio, I need to see the footage to understand what happened. I’m very happy with this eighth place. »
In the championship, Pierre Gasly loses his 6th place in the drivers’ championship to Carlos Sainz. The Frenchman must also prepare to be beaten, as Alexander Albon is now only 9 points behind in the overall standings.
Romain Grosjean: 15th (10th on the grid)
Romain Grosjean is certainly afflicted with acute bad luck. And yet, this weekend started under the best auspices. In qualifying, the Frenchman managed to secure a completely unexpected tenth place. No one expected the Haas to be so strong.
However, while the VF19 is fast over one lap, this is not the case over long stints. Equipped with hard tires, Grosjean had almost no pace. Another disappointment for the Frenchman who hasn’t scored points since Germany.
« From the start, we lost positions. That’s two races in a row where it didn’t start well. We blamed it on the right side in Russia, and again we’re on the dirty side of the track, but with the rain that fell last night, it should have cleaned it. So is it us not being good at the starts? Kevin, who started last, was in front of me at the first corner. We tried a stop by switching to hard tires. I had fun with two overtakes on Giovinazzi and Russell. I hope they were seen on TV because it’s the only cool moment of my race.
Despite his absence in the points and on television, the Frenchman leaves Japan with a plastic model of a 1977 Tyrrell with 6 wheels.
