Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly
Born/Date of Birth: 7 February 1996
Place of Birth: Rouen, France
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality: France French
2020 team: AlphaTauri-Honda
Car number: 10
Entries: 55 (55 starts)
Wins: 1
Podiums: 2
Career points: 167
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 Italian Grand Prix
2019 position: 7th (95 pts)
Official website: pierregasly.com
Pierre Gasly (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 début 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.
Career
Karting
Gasly entered karting in 2006, 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
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 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 on 8 January 2015 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.
In January 2016, it was announced Gasly would switch to newcomers Prema Powerteam alongside 2015 European Formula 3 runner-up and GP2 rookie Antonio Giovinazzi. He would go on to become the GP2 Series champion that season.
Formula One
In September 2015, Gasly was announced as reserve driver for Red Bull Racing.
Toro Rosso (2017–2018)
On 26 September 2017, Toro Rosso announced that Gasly would make his Formula One race début at the Malaysian Grand Prix, replacing Daniil Kvyat for a number of races. 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 Mexico, partnering New Zealander Brendon Hartley after the team decided to drop Kvyat from the Red Bull programme.
On 16 November 2017, Toro Rosso confirmed Gasly and Hartley as their full-time 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. A week later in China, he crashed into teammate Hartley in what the two confessed as being a 'miscommunication'. 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)
On 20 August 2018, it was announced that Gasly would drive for Red Bull for the 2019 season, partnering Max Verstappen following the departure of Daniel Ricciardo to Renault. Gasly struggled with the RB15, being consistently off teammate Verstappen's pace. 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 came at the British Grand Prix, finishing 4th after Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel in front were involved in a collision. 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. 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)
On 12 August 2019, it was announced that Gasly would be demoted back to junior team Toro Rosso with Alexander Albon taking his place. 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.” 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, 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". He finished the season in 7th place in the championship with 95 points.
AlphaTauri (2020–present)
On 12 November 2019, AlphaTauri (previously Toro Rosso) announced that Gasly would be retained alongside Kvyat for 2020. At the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, Gasly won the first Formula One race of his career, becoming the first French driver to win a Formula One race since Olivier Panis' victory at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. Gasly became the 109th different race winner in F1.
Japanese Super Formula
In February 2017, Gasly was announced to join Team Mugen to drive a Red Bull-sponsored Honda at the 2017 Super Formula Championship.
Formula E
In July 2017, Renault e.Dams confirmed that Gasly would replace Sébastien Buemi for the 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.
