I’ll be back.
F1 driver Gasly departs after spending nearly two months in Dubai
Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly has finally departed from Dubai with a promise that he will be back soon.
The 24-year-old Gasly had to spend nearly two months in Dubai after he had travelled here following the cancellation of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 15. Apparently, at least that was his original plan before everyone headed off for the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 22.
Gasly is based in Italy, but sadly for the driver all airports in Italy were shut down during the early lockdown period there. He had the option of going to his native France, but he didn’t want to potentially put his parents at risk.
So, the Frenchman chose to stay on in Dubai along with his trainer. Immediately after the lockdown was temporarily lifted in Dubai last week, among the first things on his list was taking a spin at Dubai Autodrome. He had to secure special permission to get some time off for some laps on the track.
“I managed to go to the karting track, so I had a couple of days doing karting, which is always good for practice, and also for fun,” he said before taking one of the repatriation flights to France last week.
“I need to go and see my family as I’ve been missing them for more than two months here. And after that I’ll go back home to Italy and just continue training.
“We still have quite a bit of time before the first race, so we will just focus on more preparation, and hopefully we can start the season very soon, because I’m missing racing as well.”
Last November, the Toro Rosso F1 team were renamed Alpha Tauri, with Gasly being joined by Daniil Kvyat behind the wheels for the 2020 season.
Organisers had put together a calendar of 22 grands prix for the 2020 World Championship. But then came the pandemic forcing frequent revisions to this calendar. For the moment, F1 has cancelled three races and another seven have been postponed.
The 2020 season is now expected to get under way with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, on July 5. In addition, venues in Austria and Britain have signed contracts to hold two races on consecutive weekends, but implementing this depends on the development of government regulation related to the pandemic.
Looking forward to race
“I think it’s the first time in my life I’ve been waiting that long between two races. The last one was in Abu Dhabi in December, so I need competition, and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car,” Gasly said.
The French driver admitted that he had the best of stays in the UAE while working hard on his fitness. “What made me take a decision to stay back was that I had better facilities in Dubai than back in France. I’ve had been training hard the last two months. The good thing is that we’ve been really focused on our training since the day we arrived in Dubai,” he said.
Resident of a hotel on Palm Jumeirah, Gasly recalled how staff did their best to accommodate him and his teammates’ needs during their stay. With public facilities, such as hotel gyms being closed, the hotel’s team created a special gym in an empty apartment adjacent so he could continue training safely during isolation.