Australian Grand Prix – French speakers’ assessment: Pierre Gasly
Ninth at the Grand Prix finish, Pierre Gasly seems to have done the most with what his car allowed him this Sunday. The Normandian driver had a solid race and scored two points.
A costly stop or a stop that is expensive.
Eleventh after failing to qualify in Q3 by less than one tenth, Pierre Gasly took advantage of Carlos Sainz’s troubles and a better start than Fernando Alonso to gain two positions. He was still in ninth place when he stopped at the end of the 21st lap, coming out 14th from the pit lane.
But the safety car caused by Sebastian Vettel two laps later offered his opponents a free pit stop and the Frenchman remained in 14th place, a situation that made him quite furious, as he declared after the race. Verstappen’s retirement, followed by the pit stops of Magnussen and Alonso who started on hard tires, allowed him to claim the tenth position. The AlphaTauri driver even took advantage of Stroll’s aggressive overtaking move that pushed Bottas off the track, allowing him to also overtake the Finn.
A long wait behind Stroll.
Gasly remained stuck behind Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin for nearly ten laps after the Virtual Safety Car caused by Max Verstappen. The Canadian was leading a group of six cars, but the Frenchman couldn’t manage to overtake him despite the three DRS zones on the Albert Park circuit. Fernando Alonso even expressed frustration over the radio about Gasly’s difficulties in overtaking Stroll.
After finally getting rid of the Aston Martin at the braking zone of the first corner, Gasly then faced pressure from Valtteri Bottas. The Alfa Romeo driver benefited from a wheel lock-up from the Frenchman at turn 13 to overtake him and break away with five laps to go.
Gasly takes ninth place ahead of Alex Albon and enters the points for the second time after his eighth-place finish in Jeddah. The Normand has 6 points and is currently 12th in the standings, just ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
