Pierre Gasly says that he would not change anything about his tenure at Red Bull as he departs AlphaTauri for Alpine.
Gasly, who first joined the Red Bull junior team for his season in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014, raced his final grand prix for Red Bull-owned AlphaTauri during last weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He will join Alpine for the 2023 season, alongside Esteban Ocon.The 26-year-old raced almost 100 grands prix with AlphaTauri and drove 12 times for Red Bull’s senior team over the first half of the 2019 season before being demoted back to AlphaTauri (then known as Toro Rosso) over the summer break due to disappointing performances.
“I don’t think it has hit me yet,” Gasly said, “because I’ve just been dressing up the same way, same clothes the last five years. Wearing the same colours and working with the same people, going to the simulator.
“After such a long time, you go beyond a working relationship. I know most of the guys’ kids, wives, where they live. We share a lot more personal connection.”
Gasly’s grand prix debut came with the team near the end of the 2017 season in Malaysia. After losing his Red Bull drive, Gasly famously won the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in 2020. He says those two races stand out the most when he looks back at his time at AlphaTauri.
“Obviously the win definitely comes first,” he said. “I will say my first race as well in Malaysia – you only get one first and this was very, very special because I didn’t expect it.
“I still remember Helmut [Marko, Red Bull sporting advisor] calling me: ‘okay, you’re not going to be a reserve driver, but you’re racing for Toro Rosso this weekend’. I was jumping on my bed in Malaysia. God knows which hotel I was in, but it wasn’t so great for them! But it was a very unique memory.”
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Gasly says that his time as part of the Red Bull ecosystem over the last eight seasons been critical to his development as a driver.
“My time at Red Bull I know has been also very useful in understanding as a driver what I need,” he explained. “Now I know I have much clearer ideas of what I want as a driver.
Despite the setback of losing his drive at Red Bull, Gasly insists he has no hard feelings over never getting a second chance at the senior team.
“Not at all,” he said. “This was my career and my story with Red Bull.
“I really believe that whatever was meant to happen, happened and it’s meant to be like that. I’ve learnt a lot. I think I’m definitely in a much stronger position, I’m a much stronger driver than I was. I’m the person that I am today thanks to the experience that I had out there. I’ve grown up a lot, whether it was on track or off the track. If you ask me, I will not even change it for anything.
“I just know I’m 26 now, every year I’m getting better – like a good red wine. I don’t know where this is going to stop, but I just know personally, I just keep getting better and I know the best is yet to come. So I’m really grateful for what’s happened.”
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Shimks (@shimks)
26th November 2022, 22:57
A very likeable person, Pierre Gasly, and a great racer. I do believe the best is yet to come. I hope Alpine deliver a great car for ’23 and Gasly wipes the floor with Ocon, who I don’t rate at all and would rather see the back of him (again). Expect to see fireworks between those two on track.
Jere (@jerejj)
27th November 2022, 6:18
Understandably, everything usually also has some positives, even if mostly negatives.
The beyond working relationship reference I’ve already heard before, but still interesting how well he knows about team personnel’s lives (& people in them) outside the circuits & paddocks, even if an inevitability after being in the same team over a long-ish period. Perhaps the same will happen at Alpine, depending on how long he ultimately drives for them.
Tristan (@skipgamer)
27th November 2022, 14:25
Can not wait to see how he goes at Alpine goes next year against Ocon. Going to be a great team battle to watch.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th November 2022, 18:54
I guess I’m the only one who’s not excited by gasly’s progress.
Andrey Baydin (@minilemm)
27th November 2022, 22:59
It’s not that easy to measure adequately in Toro Rosso for many reasons, teammates being the main but not the only one.
Let’s see what he does away from the RB system and next to Ocon, who isn’t universally liked, but is probably a much better reference than Tsunoda when it comes to proven midfield drivers.
Mayrton
28th November 2022, 16:15
Same here, so a change of scenery might provide valuable insights. It’s a good move for him. Am a tiny bit concerned about the whole French thing which might get to their heads but let’s label that prejudice for now.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th November 2022, 7:50
He did see that if he has the confidence in the car, and the trust of the team (see last year) he can be really solid. So if that is the case at Alpine, we might see the Gasly we got in 2021 instead of the stressed, petulant and erratic one we got this year and for his stint at Red Bull @esploratore1