Pierre Gasly is a driver who’s experienced everything virtually in Formula 1 other than a world championship, with the Frenchman having been on an emotional rollercoaster since joining the pinnacle of motorsport in the closing rounds of 2017.
Gasly made a strong start to his F1 career with Toro Rosso (known nowadays as AlphaTauri), to the point where he was chosen as the right person to take Daniel Ricciardo’s spot at Red Bull in 2019.
As is well known, things didn’t work out for the Frenchman, who arguably buckled under the pressure of not only being in a frontrunning team, but alongside Max Verstappen.
Gasly failed to perform and was ultimately demoted back to the Red Bull sister team mid-season, with Gasly and Alex Albon having swapped places from the Belgian Grand Prix that year.
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Interestingly, Gasly returned to the Faenza-based team with a fire in his belly, with it being evident that he felt like he had a point to prove.
He went on to claim a podium at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix before winning the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, in what was the team’s first win since Sebastian Vettel won at Monza in 2008.
The Frenchman also claimed a podium in 2021 at Azerbaijan, to further highlight that he is an incredibly talented driver.
All the time, though, it felt like he was pushing for a return to Red Bull, to really prove to the Austrians that they made the wrong choice in dropping him from the team.
No matter how well he performed, it was clear that Red Bull were never going to promote Gasly again, somewhat stalling his career.
As successful as he was with AlphaTauri, Gasly needed a move away from the Red Bull set-up to further prove his value, which is why a switch to Alpine for the forthcoming season is so perfect for him.
There is no doubt that Alpine are a better side capable of competing consistently in the top ten, meaning Gasly will have a real opportunity to be closer to the front more often.
Perhaps he’ll even find himself occasionally battling Red Bull, in what would give him a great chance to take the fight to his former side.
He has no anger, though, towards the Austrians who looked after him throughout his junior career, with Gasly having learnt so much from his short spell driving for the Milton Keynes-based team.
“As much as I wish this would have never happened, I think it’s been definitely a very useful and positive experience,” Gasly told media, as per RacingNews365.com.
“[It has been helpful in] not repeating the similar mistakes, and just being a lot more aware of the requirements [of] moving to a new team.”
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Looking ahead to 2023, Gasly is already feeling “much better” than he did in the Red Bull set-up, with the Frenchman remaining hopeful that Alpine can “close the gap to the front” this season.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s definitely a much better feeling and much more exciting feeling,” he told media including PlanetF1.com.
“I take this very seriously and I’m a very competitive person and I really hope that we’re going to be able to carry the momentum they have had over the last year and close the gap to the front three during this year.”