STILL GAS IN TANK
Comeback king Pierre stuns as Hamilton takes back seat
TWELVE months ago Pierre Gasly was stuck in reverse gear after his ignominious relegation by Red Bull.
Dropped to the second string of Toro Rosso – now AlphaTauri – midway through the season, the Frenchman faced a bleak future.
He suffered more personal heartbreak when best friend and F2 driver Anthoine Hubert was killed at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix.
But a year on, his stunning victory in yesterday’s Italian Grand Prix redeemed Gasly, 24, and injected some much- needed excitement into the season. Until this weekend, it had been the Lewis Hamilton show with the Briton on course for his sixth win in seven races until disaster struck at the famous Monza circuit.
The six- times world champion ultimately fought his way back to seventh, retaining his 47- point lead at the top of the standings but, for once, this was not about him and his seemingly invincible Mercedes. Instead the plaudits belong to Gasly, who held off a nail- biting bid for glory from McLaren’s Carlos Sainz to seal his first F1 victory.
It was the first time since 2013 – when Kimi Raikkonen won with Lotus in Australia – that a team other than Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull had taken the chequered flag. Other records tumbled, too, with Gasly the first French driver since Olivier Panis, in 1996, to
win. It was no surprise that Gasly was in tears as he crossed the line, screaming in delight following his memorable win.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “I’m not realising what’s happening right now.
“It was such a crazy race. We capitalised on the red flag. The car was fast out there, we had a pretty fast car behind us.
“I’ve been through so much in 18 months. My first podium in Formula 1 last year, I was already feeling ‘ wow’, with AlphaTauri, and now my first win in Formula One in Monza, I’m struggling to realise it.”
Gasly profited after Hamilton was forced to serve a 10- second stop- and- go penalty for changing tyres when the pit lane was closed. The standout race of what has so far been a dull season took a dramatic twist when the Safety Car was deployed on lap 20 with Kevin Magnussen’s Haas parked up in a dangerous position.
Hamilton was leading by 11 seconds over the McLaren pair of Sainz and Lando Norris before diving into the pits too soon and was duly penalised by the stewards.
The race restarted on lap 24, but, just over a minute later, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed out at the high- speed Parabolica corner.
Leclerc’s team- mate Sebastian Vettel had already retired with brake failure on what was another humiliation on home turf for the Italian outfit.
A good job then that the Tifosi support were absent due to the Covid- 19 disruption.
The standing restart from the grid, which left Hamilton attempting to overturn a 30- second deficit, set up a thrilling sprint for victory. And Gasly held on to win a chaotic and bonkers race that even the sport’s biggest critics will welcome.