Pierre Gasly

**Pierre Gasly** is a French racing driver, currently competing in Formula 1.5 under the French flag, racing for Alpine. 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 1.5 debut with Toro Rosso at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix. He moved to Red Bull Racing in 2019 in F1, before moving back after trading with Alexander Albon from Toro Rosso between the Hungarian and Belgian rounds to partner Daniil Kvyat.

Gasly lead the F1.5 championship for the first time after Saudi Arabia 2023.

## Personal Life

Born in Rouen, France, to father Jean Jacques Gasly and mother Pascale, 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. 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. At the age of six, Gasly first experienced karting at a local karting track in Anneville-Ambourville. 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.

## F1.5 Career

### **Toro Rosso (2017-2019)**

#### **2017 Season**

Pierre Gasly was a test driver for Toro Rosso in 2017. However, after the Singapore Grand Prix, the team announced Gasly would take over Kvyat's car for the remaining 6 races. On his debut in the Malaysian Grand Prix, he finished 9th. Kvyat would return for the American Grand Prix, putting Gasly out of his seat temporarily, but Gasly was back for the Mexican Grand Prix. He scored 18 points in his first season.

#### **2018 Season**

Gasly was retained as a full time race driver for the 2018 season by his team. He retired from the Australian Grand Prix, his first career retirement, but took his first career pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix. He would go on to lead from start to finish and win his first career Grand Prix. However, this was a one-of performance, as he would score only 2 points in the next 3 races. He took his second podium at the Monaco Grand Prix, finishing 2nd behind Force India's Esteban Ocon. He was 5th in Canada, retired from his home Grand Prix and took three points finishes in the next three races. In Hungary, Pierre celebrated his second and final victory of the season. He scored poitns at every other remaining Grand Prix except Russia and Abu Dhabi, where he retired. Gasly was picked up by an F1.0 team for 2019.

#### **2019 Season**

Gasly left Formula 1.5 at the end of the 2018 season. However, he swapped places with Alexander Albon mid season. In his first race back in F1.5, the Belgian Grand Prix, Gasly took fourth place. He finished 6th in Italy, and took his fourth career podium in Singapore, finishing second. After a mediocre 9th place in Russia, he was once again 2nd in Japan, and followed that up with another podium, a 3rd place with fastest lap in Mexico. He retired from the American Grand Prix near the end. For the Brazilian Grand Prix, Gasly took his second pole position, and was also able to convert it into a win this time, staying strong through the chaos caused by multiple F1.0 incidents. This would also prove to be his final points finish, as he only finished 12th in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after losing his front wing in a collision with Lance Stroll on the first lap. Gasly matched Albon's points tally of 99 despite having driven three less races, and he came close to his 2018 points sum with twelve less races. Gasly was retained by Toro Rosso for the next season, which transformed into a new team called Alpha Tauri.

### **AlphaTauri (2020-2022)**

#### **2020 Season**

Gasly was retained by the team, along with Kvyat, as they rebranded to Scuderia AlphaTauri. Gasly started the season strong with a fith place finish in Austria, but then in the following race he finished 11th. In the third round at Hungary, Gasly retired from the race with engine issues that he had struggled with all weekend. Gasly then finished the next four races in the points. Gasly won the Italian Grand Prix due to a red flag and safety car that worked to his advantage, to finish ahead of Sainz and Stroll. At the following round Gasly retired on lap 1 from an incident with other drivers. At Portugal, Gasly had a strong drive to finish 2nd overtaking many cars during such as Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz. Gasly also took pole at the next race, but then ran into engine trouble, which made him retire. Gasly took third at Bahrain. He finished the season in 7th place with 144 points.

#### **2021 Season**

Gasly stayed at the team for another season in 2021, being partnered by rookie Yuki Tsunoda.

The car looked quick in testing and in qualifying of the first round, with speculation weather they could challenge for the title. In qualifying, their pace was strong, however in the race Gasly was involved in a lap one incident which damaged the car and eventually ended his race early, although he was classified 12th. Things looked up in Imola, finishing 5th although the french driver could have done better if not a strategy gamble which saw Gasly stay out on a drying track on full wet tyres. At Portugal, Gasly finished sixth followed by another sixth place in Spain.

In Monaco, Gasly finished the race in P4, his best result of the season so far. He then went on to better that at the next round in Azerbaijan with a 2nd place finish, finishing behind Sebastian Vettel by just over a second at the line. The race also saw Pierre stand on the podium at his home grand prix finishing third. At Styria he was involved in a lap one collision with Charles Leclerc that would end his race early.

The Dutch Grand Prix gave Gasly his first victory of the season where he started on pole position, a second win would follow later in the season when he dominated the race at Mexico. At the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, Gasly crashed out in the sprint after his front wing got wedged underneath his wheels. He retired from the Grand Prix on lap 4 due to damaged suspension.

Gasly finished the season in 4th place in the drivers championship with 222 points. He moved from 5th to 4th in the standings at the final race, passing Daniel Ricciardo by just 2 points over the season. Rookie teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, finished in 10th with 78 points.

#### 2022 Season

Gasly will continue to race for AlphaTauri in 2022 alongside Tsunoda. Gasly took his first podium of the season at Saudi Arabia finishing third. He would later return to the podium in Azerbaijan, taking the win after starting from pole position.

He was set to start the Belgian Grand Prix from sixth place, however an electrical issue shortly before the race forced him to start from the pit lane. He recovered to the points positions, finishing fourth. This was the first race out of a four race streak that saw Pierre finish in the top 5, finishing 5th at The Netherlands, 2nd at Monza and 5th at Singapore. The next race in Japan, saw Pierre finish last in 13th place. At the Japanese Grand Prix, Gasly criticised the deployment of a recovery tractor in wet conditions describing it as "disrespectful" to the memory of the late Jules Bianchi and stating "I could have killed myself". He received a penalty for speeding under the subsequent red flag.

After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost confirmed that Gasly had a contract with the team and would remain with them for 2023. However in August and September, information emerged that Alpine were targeting Gasly after Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri both left the team, and that Red Bull were willing to release him. Gasly's move to Alpine for 2023 was officially announced in October.

### **Alpine (2023)**

#### **2023 Season**

Gasly signed a multi-year contract to race for Alpine in 2023, partnering fellow French former karting rival Esteban Ocon. AlphaTauri allowed Gasly to join Alpine for the post-season testing immediately after the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In his first race with Alpine at the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix, Gasly started last after having his qualifying time deleted, but recovered to finish second in the race, to take his first podium for his new team. Gasly took a second podium at Saudi Arabia, which promoted him to the championship lead for the first time in his career. At the third race, Gasly looked strong for the win before colliding with his teammate on the penultimate lap that put them both out of the race, Gasly was still classified though as he had completed 90 percent of the race.