Review of Pierre Gasly’s first podium
It was during the 2019 Brazilian round: Pierre Gasly, then Toro Rosso driver, beat Lewis Hamilton in a sprint for a superb second place! A fair return of destiny for the Norman.
The 2019 season had not been a walk in the park for number 10. That year, the French driver had been promoted to Red Bull to support the ogre Max Verstappen.
Unfortunately, the RB15 was anything but tailored for him: a cruel comparison with the Dutch driver and results far from the promising ones of 2018, with Toro Rosso.
Result of the race: a quick demotion from the main team to the “2” team, in favor of Alex Albon, as of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Pierre Gasly’s talent was not going to be called into question, quite the opposite. His second part of the season was of very good quality, before the shock occurred in Brazil.
Opportunism as a master quality
Max Verstappen was starting in pole position for the penultimate round of the 2019 season. Following him were the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. The last two mentioned exchanged their positions at the start, while Verstappen took off in the lead.
In principle, everything was in place for the top drivers to escape without ever being seen again. But the show had an appointment at Interlagos: Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes suffered an engine failure 20 laps from the end: the safety car entered the track!
Verstappen in the pits, Hamilton took the opportunity to regain the lead. Not for long, as the N°33 would devour the Briton at the first turn.
Behind, Pierre Gasly was making his way, well placed in the top 10. Destiny seemed to want to give him a little helping hand, as it was then the turn of the two Ferraris to fall together on the 65th lap.
Lewis Hamilton tried the bet of new tires during this second neutralization. A curious strategy that allowed Pierre Gasly to access the provisional podium, behind the two Red Bulls!
Max Verstappen added a little more spice to the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, which was already full of action: he used the “slowing down until the line” method, which bunched the pack as if for a standing start.
At that moment, there were two laps left. Lewis Hamilton, lying in wait behind the Toro Rosso of the Frenchman, made short work of it before setting off to attack Alex Albon in second place. An excess of optimism and impatience drove the Mercedes toward the rear of Red Bull No. 23, causing it to spin… A commotion that benefited a certain light blue car to take hold of second place!
Max Verstappen was heading towards a solitary victory.
Behind, Hamilton caught up with Pierre Gasly’s car, who resisted him on the final straight, side by side, until the finish line!
An astounding scene that reminded the F1 world that his move from Red Bull was in no way synonymous with a lack of talent.
The Frenchman then achieved his first podium finish of his career and ended the season in a good 7th place in the drivers’ standings! The rest of the story, we know it…
