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. 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. Gasly took his maiden Formula One victory at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix while driving for AlphaTauri.

## 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. He was also friends with Charles Leclerc since a young age and Esteban Ocon during the early stages of his karting career. In 2019 he moved to Milan. Besides his native French, Gasly also speaks Italian and English.

## Career

### Karting

Gasly entered competitive karting in 2006 at the age of ten, when he finished fifteenth in the French Minime Championship, before he finished fourth the following year. In 2008 he stepped up to the French Cadet Championship, 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.

### 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. He finished third behind his future Eurocup rivals Matthieu Vaxivière and Andrea Pizzitola with seven podiums, including wins at Spa, Albi and Le Castellet.

Gasly moved to the 2-litre Formula Renault machinery in 2012, joining R-Ace GP in the Formula Renault Eurocup. He finished tenth with six point-scoring finishes, including podiums at Spa and the Nürburgring. 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. He took five podiums, as well as victories at Moscow, the Hungaroring and Le Castellet. 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.

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. 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. 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.

### 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. In the weekend's first race, Gasly recovered from a poor qualifying performance of 19th to finish seventh in his debut race. 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.

### Formula One

In December 2013 it was announced that Gasly would be inducted into the Red Bull Junior Team for the 2014 Formula One season alongside future GP2 Series teammate Alex Lynn and future Scuderia Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. Gasly's first experience in Formula One machinery came in May 2015 at the in-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He drove the Toro Rosso STR10 on the first day of the test and the Red Bull RB11 on the second day, recording 203 laps in total. He later tested the RB11 again at the Red Bull Ring in June and was officially named Red Bull Racing's reserve driver in September. Gasly continued testing for Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

#### 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 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix with Scuderia Toro Rosso, replacing Daniil Kvyat. 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. He returned to the team for the Mexican Grand Prix, partnering with 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. At 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. A week later at the Chinese Grand Prix, he crashed into teammate Hartley in what the two confessed as being a 'miscommunication'. Gasly recorded four more points finishes during the season, including seventh place at the Monaco Grand Prix and sixth place at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He ended the season in 15th place in the championship with 29 points, comfortably ahead of Hartley's total of four points.

#### Red Bull (2019)

Gasly at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix
Gasly was contracted to drive for Red Bull Racing for the 2019 season, partnering Max Verstappen following the departure of Daniel Ricciardo to Renault. Gasly struggled with the RB15 and was consistently off Verstappen's pace. He finished a lap behind Verstappen at several races and only out-qualified Verstappen on one occasion, the Canadian Grand Prix, when Verstappen was hampered by a red flag in qualifying. At both the Chinese and Monaco Grands Prix, Gasly recorded the fastest lap of the race. His best result with Red Bull Racing came at the British Grand Prix where he finished fourth after Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel collided ahead.

Gasly came under increasing pressure at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where he was 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 stated that it was the team's intention to keep Gasly until the end of the season. By the summer break, Gasly was in sixth place in the championship with 63 points, five points ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. in the inferior McLaren. 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 Alex Albon taking his place. Upon the shock mid-season announcement, 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.” 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."

During the remainder of the season at Toro Rosso, partnering Daniil Kvyat, Gasly achieved five points finishes, including ninth place at his first race back at the team in Belgium. His best result came at the chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix. Gasly qualified in seventh place and took advantage of retirements from Valtteri Bottas and both Ferrari drivers, as well as a collision between Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon, to finish the race in second 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". He ended the season in seventh place in the championship with 95 points.

#### AlphaTauri (2020–2021)

Gasly in 2020, during pre-season testing at Barcelona
Gasly was retained by the team, along with Kvyat, as they rebranded to Scuderia AlphaTauri. Gasly achieved four points finishes in the first seven races of the season, with best results of seventh place at the Austrian and British Grands Prix.

At the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, an early pit stop allowed Gasly to pass several drivers - who had to wait for the pitlane to open during a safety car procedure - and go up to a net third place. As race leader Hamilton entered the pits to serve a penalty and second-placed driver Lance Stroll lost places at the restart, Gasly inherited the lead of the race and held off the late-charging Carlos Sainz Jr. to take his first win in Formula One, becoming the 109th different race winner and the first French driver to win a Grand Prix since Olivier Panis' victory at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, 24 years prior.

This prompted speculation that Gasly could return to Red Bull, as his replacement at the team, Alex Albon, finished only 15th. Gasly remarked that he was 'ready' to do so. AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost praised Gasly's race but dismissed the possibility of Gasly returning to Red Bull soon. He finished the 2020 season 10th in the championship with 75 points, ahead of teammate Kvyat on 32 points.

#### 2021

Gasly at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix
Gasly was retained by AlphaTauri for 2021, partnered by Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda. At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Gasly took his third career podium after a battle with Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris for third place on the final lap. Originally starting fourth, Gasly dropped to fifth place early in the race but benefitted from a tyre failure for Max Verstappen and a mistake from Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages.

#### Lotus Geely GP (2022-)

After AlphaTauri was sold to the newly-formed Lotus Geely Grand Prix team, they suddenly became more successful. Gasly started on pole position in Australia, and defended masterfully from Lewis Hamilton to only his second career win.