Pierre Gasly says he could have done without the FIA’s International Court of Appeal decision to strip him of his Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix podium, having since taken pole position in Monza.
The ICA overruled the Monaco stewards’ call to overturn Gasly’s pitlane speeding penalties from the Monaco race after the pitlane measurements were found to be inaccurate. After crossing the finish line in third, being demoted to seventh and recovering third, the Alpine driver has eventually been classified seventh in the final classification of the race.
A little over 24 hours later, Gasly took a shock maiden F1 pole at the Italian Grand Prix, outpacing Mercedes’ George Russell by 0.060s, so he was asked if the ICA’s decision was providing ‘a bit of extra motivation’.
“I don’t think I can say much about this and all I can say is it’s not a nice situation, not ideal,” the Frenchman replied. “Obviously, I try to use everything I can into something positive and extra motivation, but I think I could have dealt without it this weekend. Yeah, that’s all I’ll say.”
After missing Free Practice 1 for Alpine reserve driver Paul Aron to fulfil rookie requirements, Gasly was just 14th in FP2 and ninth in FP3, but leapt forward in qualifying with first in Q1, fourth in Q2 and obviously the fastest time in Q3 – which he believes was down to “perfect execution” from the team.
“We knew that there was a bit more on the table in the practice sessions,” Gasly commented, “and then I think it was a very good execution from the team, always putting me in a great position on track, managing the gap as best we could, really.
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
“My last lap, managed to target slightly over 2.5 seconds behind Lewis [Hamilton] when he was going to be fast and sort of drag me with him. So, I think it was perfect execution.
“The car balance is probably one of the best I’ve had so far this year, really. Again, gave me the confidence to attack all these corners and sliding around and playing around with the car, and we managed to make it work in that last run when everything mattered.”
Still, winning will be a tall order for Gasly, with most frontrunners right behind him on the grid – except championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who will start from 20th after exceeding his power unit allowance.
“It’s going to be obviously great. I’m in the best position, right?” Gasly insisted. “I’m starting first, got no one ahead of me. I just got to focus on my driving and, you know, I know what it looks like having no one around this track, so that’s a good advantage and probably the best place to do it.”
Six years ago, a fortunately timed safety car intervention vaulted Gasly to the front of the pack; he led for the last 26 laps, withstanding Carlos Sainz’s pressure on his way to a maiden – and so far only – victory. “But then, yeah, it’s going to be a long race,” he pondered.
“I actually felt quite good. Obviously not to the pace of these guys around us, but we seem to have picked up more pace from yesterday to today. So, we’ll obviously give our best shot and see what we can get out of it. But, yeah, I’m excited.”
