Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly (French pronunciation: ​[pjɛʁ ɡasli]; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver, currently competing in Formula One under the French flag, racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri. He is the 2016 GP2 Series champion, and the runner-up in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series and the 2017 Super Formula Championship. He made his Formula One debut with Toro Rosso at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix.[2] He moved to Red Bull Racing in 2019, before moving back after trading with Alexander Albon from Toro Rosso between the Hungarian and Belgian rounds to partner Daniil Kvyat.[3] Gasly took his maiden Formula One victory at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix while driving for AlphaTauri.

Pierre Gasly

Gasly in 2017
Born	7 February 1996 Rouen, France
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	French
2021 team	AlphaTauri-Honda[1]
Car number	10
Entries	64 (64 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	1
Podiums	2
Career points	199
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	2
First entry	2017 Malaysian Grand Prix
First win	2020 Italian Grand Prix
Last win	2020 Italian Grand Prix
Last entry	2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
2020 position	10th (75 pts)
Signature
Website	Official website
Previous series
2017 2014–16 2014 2013 2012–13 2012 2011	Super Formula GP2 Series Formula Renault 3.5 Series Formula Renault 2.0 Alps Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Formula Renault 2.0 NEC French F4 Championship
Championship titles
2016 2013	GP2 Series Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0

Personal life

Born in Rouen, France, to father Jean Jacques Gasly and mother Pascale,[4][5] Gasly's family has long been involved in motorsports. His grandfather competed in karting and his father Jean Jacques has also competed in various categories of racing including karting, endurance racing and rallying.[6] Gasly is the youngest alongside his four half brothers, two maternal from his mother's previous marriage; Nicolas Caron and Cyril Caron, as well as two paternal from his father's previous marriage; Phillipe Gasly and Paul Gasly.[7][8] At the age of six, Gasly first experienced karting at a local karting track in Anneville-Ambourville.[8] Gasly grew up alongside the late Anthoine Hubert; karting with him since the age of seven, being educated at the same private school and having resided together as roommates for several years.[9]

Career

Karting

Gasly entered competitive karting in 2006 at the age of ten, when he finished fifteenth in the French Minime Championship,[10] before he finished fourth the following year.[11] In 2008 he stepped up to the French Cadet Championship,[12] before moving to the international scene in 2009. He moved into the KF3 category, staying until the end of 2010, when he finished as runner-up in the CIK-FIA European Championship.[13]

Formula Renault

Pierre Gasly in Motorland Aragón, 2014

In 2011, Gasly made his début in single-seaters, taking part in the French F4 Championship 1.6-litre category.[14] He finished third behind his future Eurocup rivals Matthieu Vaxivière and Andrea Pizzitola with seven podiums, including wins at Spa, Albi and Le Castellet.[15]

Gasly moved to the 2-litre Formula Renault machinery in 2012, joining R-Ace GP in the Formula Renault Eurocup.[16] He finished tenth with six point-scoring finishes, including podiums at Spa and the Nürburgring.[17] He also had seven starts in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup with the same team, taking a podium at the Nürburgring.

For 2013, Gasly moved to Tech 1 Racing.[18] He took five podiums, as well as victories at Moscow, the Hungaroring and Le Castellet.[13][19] He held an eleven-point lead over Oliver Rowland into the final meeting at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and ultimately clinched the title with third and sixth-place finishes; the latter result coming after a collision with Rowland, who received a drive-through penalty as a result.[20]

The driver jumped to Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2014, where he was hired by Arden under the Red Bull Junior Team development program. He finished season as runner-up to another Red Bull Junior Carlos Sainz Jr., collecting eight podiums in the seventeen races.

GP2 Series

Gasly on the podium after the 2016 Silverstone GP2 Series rounds

Gasly made his GP2 Series debut in 2014 at Monza circuit in support of Italian Grand Prix, replacing Caterham Racing driver Tom Dillmann who had commitments at other racing series and was unable to participate in GP2 Series races for that weekend.[21] He then partook in post-season testing, driving for DAMS and signed with the French team to race alongside the British driver Alex Lynn, development driver of Williams F1 Team.[22] Though taking three pole positions and four podiums, Gasly experienced an uneven season, including causing collisions in Bahrain, Spa and Yas Marina (which got the subsequent race cancelled), which saw him finish eighth, two places behind teammate Lynn.

Gasly would switch to newcomers Prema Powerteam alongside 2015 European Formula 3 runner-up and GP2 rookie Antonio Giovinazzi for 2016. He would go on to become the GP2 Series champion that season.

Japanese Super Formula

Gasly joined Team Mugen to drive a Red Bull-sponsored Honda at the 2017 Super Formula Championship, winning two races.[23]

Formula E

Gasly's Renault e.Dams car in the NYC ePrix paddock prior to qualifying

Gasly made a one-off Formula E appearance for Renault e.dams where he replaced Sébastien Buemi for the 2017 New York ePrix, due to the latter's commitments to the World Endurance Championship.[24] In the weekend's first race, Gasly recovered from a poor qualifying performance of 19th to finish seventh in his debut race.[25] Gasly nearly finished on the podium in the second race, hitting the wall on the exit of the final corner while battling for third and limping across the finish line with major damage in fourth.[26]

Formula One

In September 2015, Gasly was signed as a reserve driver for Red Bull Racing.[27][28]

Toro Rosso (2017–2018)

Gasly on his debut for Toro Rosso at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

Gasly made his Formula One race début at the Malaysian Grand Prix with Scuderia Toro Rosso, replacing Daniil Kvyat for a number of races.[2] He finished the Malaysian and Japanese Grands Prix outside the points. Gasly was expected to take Carlos Sainz Jr.'s seat at Austin but he was forced to miss the race due to a clash with the final round of the 2017 Super Formula Championship.[29] He returned to the team for Mexico, partnering with New Zealander Brendon Hartley after the team decided to drop Kvyat from the Red Bull programme.

Gasly at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix

Gasly and Hartley became full-time Toro Rosso drivers for the 2018 season. In the Bahrain Grand Prix, Gasly qualified sixth, but promoted to fifth after Lewis Hamilton's penalty. He eventually finished the race in fourth place, earning his first points finish in Formula One.[30] A week later in China, he crashed into teammate Hartley in what the two confessed as being a 'miscommunication'.[31] Gasly recorded four more points finishes during the season, including a 7th-place finish in Monaco and a 6th-place finish in Hungary. He ended the season in 15th place in the championship with 29 points, comfortably ahead of teammate Hartley.

Red Bull (2019)

Gasly at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix

Gasly was contracted to drive for Red Bull for the 2019 season, partnering Max Verstappen[32] following the departure of Daniel Ricciardo to Renault.[33] Gasly struggled with the RB15, being consistently off teammate Verstappen's pace, even getting lapped by him in several races. He only out-qualified Verstappen on one occasion, in Canada, when Verstappen was hampered by a red flag in qualifying. In both China and Monaco, Gasly recorded the fastest lap of the race. His best result of the season (whilst racing for Red Bull) came at the British Grand Prix, finishing 4th after Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel in front were involved in a collision. This was arguably the only race where he was able to battle the frontrunners. Gasly came under increasing pressure at the Hungarian Grand Prix, after being lapped by Verstappen during a race in which he could have assisted Verstappen from being passed by Lewis Hamilton for the race win, had he been close enough behind. Despite Gasly's poor form, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claimed that it was the team's "intention" to keep Gasly until the end of the season.[34] By the summer break, Gasly was in 6th place in the championship with 63 points, just five points clear of Carlos Sainz Jr. in the inferior McLaren. Teammate Verstappen, meanwhile, had recorded 181 points, two race wins, five podium finishes and one pole position.

Return to Toro Rosso (2019)

Gasly at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, after being dropped to Scuderia Toro Rosso mid-season

Gasly (second from left) on his maiden podium after finishing second in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix

Ahead of the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix, Gasly was demoted back to junior team Toro Rosso with Alexander Albon taking his place.[35] The change came after Albon's strong performance in the Toro Rosso STR14 throughout the first half of the season, with a best finish of 6th at the rain-affected German Grand Prix. Upon the shock mid-season announcement, the team at Red Bull said in a press release, “The team will use the next nine races to evaluate Alex’s performance in order to make an informed decision as to who will drive alongside Max in 2020.”[36] On the dropping of Gasly, Christian Horner said: "Pierre really needs to take some time out during the break, reflect, and take the lessons into the second part of the year. We desperately need him realising more of the potential of the car."[37]

During the remainder of the season at Toro Rosso, partnering Daniil Kvyat, Gasly achieved five points finishes, including a 9th-place finish at his first race back at the team in Belgium. His best performance came at the chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix. Gasly qualified in 7th place and took advantage of retirements from Valtteri Bottas and both Ferrari drivers, as well as a collision between Lewis Hamilton and Alexander Albon, to finish the race in 2nd place after holding off Hamilton in a straight drag to the finish line. This marked the first podium finish of Gasly's Formula One career, Toro Rosso's best race result since the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, and Honda's first 1–2 finish since the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix. On his cool-down lap, Gasly remarked over the radio: "This is the best day of my life".[38] He finished the season in 7th place in the championship with 95 points.

AlphaTauri (2020–)

Pierre Gasly driving at the 2020 pre-season testing

Gasly was retained by the team, along with Kvyat, as they rebranded to Scuderia AlphaTauri.[39] Gasly managed four top-10 finishes across the first seven races of the season, with a best result of seventh in Austria and Silverstone.

At the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, an early pit stop allowed Gasly to pass several drivers - who had to wait for the pitlane to be open during a safety car procedure - and go up to a net third place. As race leader Hamilton boxed to serve a stop-go penalty and second-place driver Stroll went wide at the Roggia chicane, Gasly inherited the lead of the race and managed to hold off the late-charging Carlos Sainz to take his first win in Formula One,[40] becoming the 109th different race winner in F1 and the first French driver to win a Grand Prix since Olivier Panis' victory at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, 24 years prior.[41]

This prompted speculation that Gasly could return to Red Bull, and Gasly himself said that he was 'ready' to do so.[42] AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost praised Gasly's race but dismissed the possibility of Gasly returning to Red Bull soon.[43] He finished the 2020 season in 10th place with 75 points. Gasly is due to remain with AlphaTauri for 2021,[44] partnered by Yuki Tsunoda.

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	FLaps	Podiums	Points	Position
2011	French F4 Championship	Autosport Academy	14	4	2	1	7	104	3rd
2012	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	R-ace GP	14	0	1	0	2	32	10th
	Formula Renault 2.0 NEC		7	0	0	0	1	78	23rd
2013	Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0	Tech 1 Racing	14	3	4	2	8	195	1st
	Formula Renault 2.0 Alps		6	0	0	0	3	72	6th
	Pau Formula Renault 2.0 Trophy		1	0	0	0	0	N/A	7th
2014	Formula Renault 3.5 Series	Arden Motorsport	17	0	1	3	8	192	2nd
	GP2 Series	Caterham Racing	6	0	0	0	0	0	29th
2015	GP2 Series	DAMS	21	0	3	1	4	110	8th
2016	GP2 Series	Prema Racing	22	4	5	4	9	219	1st
2016–17	Formula E	Renault e.dams	2	0	0	0	0	18	16th
2017	Formula One	Scuderia Toro Rosso	5	0	0	0	0	0	21st
	Super Formula	Team Mugen	7	2	0	0	3	33	2nd
2018	Formula One	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	21	0	0	0	0	29	15th
2019	Formula One	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	12	0	0	2	0	95	7th
		Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	9	0	0	0	1
2020	Formula One	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	17	1	0	0	1	75	10th
2021	Formula One	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda							-

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Points
2014	Arden Motorsport	MNZ 1 3	MNZ 2 5	ALC 1 9	ALC 2 2	MON 1 7	SPA 1 2	SPA 2 4	MSC 1 18	MSC 2 2	NÜR 1 20	NÜR 2 8	HUN 1 2	HUN 2 3	LEC 1 2	LEC 2 2	JER 1 6	JER 2 4	2nd	192

Complete GP2 Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	DC	Points
2014	Caterham Racing	BHR FEA	BHR SPR	CAT FEA	CAT SPR	MON FEA	MON SPR	RBR FEA	RBR SPR	SIL FEA	SIL SPR	HOC FEA	HOC SPR	HUN FEA	HUN SPR	SPA FEA	SPA SPR	MNZ FEA 17	MNZ SPR Ret	SOC FEA 11	SOC SPR 11	YMC FEA 21	YMC SPR 18	29th	0
2015	DAMS	BHR FEA Ret	BHR SPR 22	CAT FEA 7	CAT SPR 3	MON FEA 14	MON SPR 10	RBR FEA 13	RBR SPR 6	SIL FEA 4	SIL SPR 3	HUN FEA 2	HUN SPR 8	SPA FEA 19	SPA SPR Ret	MNZ FEA Ret	MNZ SPR 12	SOC FEA 2	SOC SPR 5	BHR FEA 6	BHR SPR 7	YMC FEA 5	YMC SPR C	8th	110
2016	Prema Racing	CAT FEA 3	CAT SPR 2	MON FEA 15	MON SPR 13	BAK FEA Ret	BAK SPR 2	RBR FEA Ret	RBR SPR 7	SIL FEA 1	SIL SPR 7	HUN FEA 1	HUN SPR 7	HOC FEA DSQ	HOC SPR 6	SPA FEA 1	SPA SPR 4	MNZ FEA 4	MNZ SPR 2	SEP FEA 11	SEP SPR 3	YMC FEA 1	YMC SPR 9	1st	219

Complete Super Formula results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
2017	Team Mugen	SUZ 10	OKA 19	OKA 7	FUJ 5	MOT 1	AUT 1	SUG 2	SUZ C	SUZ C	2nd	33

Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicates fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	WDC	Points
2017	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso STR12	Toro Rosso 1.6 V6 t	AUS	CHN	BHR	RUS	ESP	MON	CAN	AZE	AUT	GBR	HUN	BEL	ITA	SIN	MAL 14	JPN 13	USA	MEX 13	BRA 12	ABU 16		21st	0
2018	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	Scuderia Toro Rosso STR13	Honda RA618H 1.6 V6 t	AUS Ret	BHR 4	CHN 18	AZE 12	ESP Ret	MON 7	CAN 11	FRA Ret	AUT 11	GBR 13	GER 14	HUN 6	BEL 9	ITA 14	SIN 13	RUS Ret	JPN 11	USA 12	MEX 10	BRA 13	ABU Ret	15th	29
2019	Aston Martin Red Bull Racing	Red Bull Racing RB15	Honda RA619H 1.6 V6 t	AUS 11	BHR 8	CHN 6	AZE Ret	ESP 6	MON 5	CAN 8	FRA 10	AUT 7	GBR 4	GER 14^†	HUN 6										7th	95
	Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda	Scuderia Toro Rosso STR14														BEL 9	ITA 11	SIN 8	RUS 14	JPN 7	MEX 9	USA 16^†	BRA 2	ABU 18
2020	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	AlphaTauri AT01	Honda RA620H 1.6 V6 t	AUT 7	STY 15	HUN Ret	GBR 7	70A 11	ESP 9	BEL 8	ITA 1	TUS Ret	RUS 9	EIF 6	POR 5	EMI Ret	TUR 13	BHR 6	SKH 11	ABU 8					10th	75 ]

^† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

References

1. "AlphaTauri confirm Pierre Gasly is to remain with the team for 2021". Formula1.com. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
2. "Toro Rosso confirms Gasly for next races". Motorsport.com. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2017.
3. "Albon replaces Gasly at Red Bull from Spa". www.motorsport.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
4. archyde (8 September 2020). "Pierre Gasly: "I dreamed of victory a thousand times while watching Schumacher"". Archyde. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
5. "Mums of the 2020 F1 drivers - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
6. "PIERRE'S BIOGRAPHY". SCUDERIA ALPHATAURI. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
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9. ""You're Not Ready at 22 to Lose Your Best Mate" - Gasly Gets Emotional After Loss of Childhood Friend Anthoine Hubert". EssentiallySports. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
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14. "Drivers 2011". Autosport Academy. French F4 Championship. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2011.
15. Allen, Peter (20 October 2013). "Weekend Review: Bortolotti closes F2 season in dominant fashion". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 20 October 2013. Pierre Gasly won both races, giving him third in the final standings behind Andrea Pizzitola.
16. "New boys and old hands raring to go". Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. Renault Sport. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
17. Allen, Peter (11 January 2013). "13 drivers to watch in 2013". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
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19. Musker, Ant (20 October 2013). "Gasly takes championship lead with controlled race one victory". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
20. Musker, Ant (20 October 2013). "Gasly crowned champion as Ocon wins final race". Paddock Scout. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
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24. "Renault e.dams confirms Gasly as Buemi replacement for New York FE". 10 July 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
25. "Sam Bird wins first Formula E New York City ePrix". Autoweek. 16 July 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
26. Mitchell, Scott (16 July 2017). "New York ePrix: Bird completes Brooklyn sweep in Sunday race". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
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28. "ABOUT PIERRE". Red Bull Racing. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
29. Barretto, Lawrence (12 October 2017). "Gasly to miss Austin F1 race for Super Formula". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
30. Sharaf, Pablo Elizalde, Dominik. "Marko: Toro Rosso Bahrain GP result made a man out of Pierre Gasly". Autosport.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
31. "Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley say 'miscommunication' caused Chinese GP collision". Sky Sports. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
32. "Gasly to partner Verstappen at Red Bull in 2019". www.formula1.com. 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
33. "Daniel Ricciardo joins Renault Sport Formula One Team from 2019". renaultsport.com. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
34. "ANALYSIS: Why Red Bull made their latest blockbuster driver swap". formula1.com. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
35. "Albon to replace Gasly at Red Bull from Belgium". www.formula1.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
36. "Red Bull drops Pierre Gasly for Alexander Albon". Motor Sport Magazine. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
37. "Red Bull: Alexander Albon to replace Pierre Gasly". 12 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
38. "'This is the best day of my life' says Gasly after stunning Brazil podium". formula1.com. 17 November 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
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42. "Gasly 'ready' for second Red Bull chance". www.planetf1.com. 7 September 2020.
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44. "AlphaTauri confirm Pierre Gasly is to remain with the team for 2021". Formula1.com. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 28 October 2020.

External links

• Official website (in French)
• Pierre Gasly career summary at DriverDB.com