Japanese Grand Prix – Pierre Gasly regrets a disappointing last place

Pierre Gasly left the pit lane after AlphaTauri made changes under Parc Fermé, crossing the finish line in 17th position at Suzuka before being demoted to the 18th (and last) place, behind Mick Schumacher. The French driver was indeed given a drive through penalty, adding 20 seconds to his final time, for not respecting the speed limit under a red flag.

It was a very emotional Japanese Grand Prix for the AlphaTauri driver, who first found himself with a billboard stuck under his front wing following Carlos Sainz’s accident, before later being surprised by the presence of a recovery tractor on the track, giving him quite a scare. “I could have been killed, it’s unacceptable! How is that possible? I can’t believe it,” exclaimed the driver from Rouen, recalling Jules Bianchi’s terrible accident in 2014.

Regarding the race, Pierre Gasly regrets not being able to achieve better performances on a special circuit for his team: « We wanted to try something different today, but it is very difficult to overtake on this circuit and we did our best, but in the end, it didn’t really work out for us. »

The Frenchman also congratulated his former teammate Max Verstappen on his second world championship title: « It’s a shame because it’s a special race weekend for us and Honda, but at the same time, it’s great that Max was able to win the championship. He has been incredible, winning consistently, always performing at his best, and (he) has everything it takes to be a world champion, so a big applause to him, Red Bull, and Honda. It’s very special to win the title here in Suzuka, so I’m really happy for them. »

« Starting from the pitlane, Pierre was able to catch up with the peloton immediately, but he was hit by a sign that was broken during Carlos’ accident. This broke his front wing and front wheel flap, but we were able to repair it under the red flag », explains Guillaume Dezoteux, vehicle performance manager. « At the restart, visibility was very poor, but the track grip was good enough to switch directly to intermediates and gain an advantage over the cars that stayed on full wet tires. Degradation was increasing rapidly, and we decided to pit again, which unfortunately was not enough to overtake the group of cars ahead of Pierre. »