2022 F1 driver rankings #14: Pierre Gasly

Since joining Formula 1 towards the end of the 2017, Pierre Gasly’s 2021 season was easily his most impressive.

From regularly qualifying inside the top six on the grid to amassing well over 100 points on his way to ninth in the championship, Gasly skilfully realised the potential of AlphaTauri’s AT02 and proved that his driving abilities had now fully outgrown the developmental nature of his team.

But in 2022, Gasly’s hopes that the dramatic new technical regulations would increase opportunities for midfield teams to get in the thick of the fight for the podium failed to materialise. Instead, Gasly endured an often fruitless and frustrating final year at the team for which he has driven the vast majority of his 108 grands prix.

Gasly’s fifth full season in Formula 1 began decently enough. He reached Q3 at the first attempt in Bahrain but became the first driver of the year to retire from a race when his MGU-K failed while on course for points in eighth.

Determined to overcome the early setback, Gasly put on a solid performance in Jeddah, reaching Q3 again despite picking up floor damage in Q1. After suffering the misfortune of pitting at the worst possible time before Nicholas Latifi brought out the Safety Car, Gasly fought his way back into the points to claim eighth place, though a sudden attack of abdominal pain over the final four laps leaving him in severe discomfort.

The limited pace of the AlphaTauri relative to some of its fellow midfield runners meant that points were far harder to come by for Gasly than they had been the year prior. In Miami, Gasly did an excellent job in qualifying to secure seventh on the grid, then absorbed lap after lap of pressure from Fernando Alonso behind in the race until Alonso tagged the rear of Gasly’s car into turn one. After continuing for multiple laps, Gasly suddenly complained of steering problems and fell off the pace before he and Lando Norris collided, ending both their races.

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Gasly’s Monaco Grand Prix weekend was heavily compromised by his team mate Yuki Tsunoda triggering a red flag during Q1. When the session resumed, Gasly was towards the back of the queue for the rush to start a flying lap and missed the line by a single second, being eliminated moments later. Despite starting from 17th, he only just missed out on the points in 11th in the final classification.

At the next round in Baku, Gasly enjoyed what was easily his best weekend of the whole season. Splitting the two Mercedes in qualifying was an achievement in itself, but he held his position first through his opening stint and was running in a brilliant fourth on merit over the final stint. Unfortunately, he lacked a spare set of hard tyres to switch to under a late Virtual Safety Car. While this allowed Lewis Hamilton to hunt him down, Gasly still crossed the line in fifth to secure AlphaTauri’s best result of the season.

Thereafter Gasly’s form suffered a slight dip, and he was well out of points contention in Montreal and the Red Bull Ring. He may have missed out on a chance of points in Silverstone thanks to his team mate Tsunoda, who crashed into him early in the race and damaged his car so badly his team opted to retire him.

Not until after the summer break in Spa did Gasly reach the top 10 again. He put in an superb effort in start from the pit lane and climb all the way up to ninth at the chequered flag, claiming his first points since Baku. In Monza, he overcame an illness heading into the weekend to make his first appearance in Q3 for eight races, following it up with a well-earned ninth on race day. He probably deserved better than tenth at the next race in Singapore, but likely pitted for slicks just a little too early.

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By far Gasly’s lowest point of the season came at Suzuka. His brakes glazed in qualifying, which led to his elimination in Q1. When the race started in sopping wet conditions, he collected a dislodged advertising hoarding in the wall of spray which forced him to pit for a new wing. As he tried to catch the pack up behind the Safety Car, he was shocked to discover a crane on the circuit at the brow of the crest along the run to Spoon Curve.

An FIA investigation would clear him of driving too quickly under the Safety Car, but after passing the accident scene under red flag conditions, he clocked over 250kph along the back straight. Gasly deservedly earned a 20-second time penalty after the race but he was already down in 17th by the chequered flag.

This proved the beginning of a serious problem for Gasly. After falling too far behind the Safety Car in the United States and then overtaking Lance Stroll outside of track limits in Mexico, Gasly had suddenly accrued 10 penalty points on his superlicence – just two away from a race ban. Making matters worse, all ten had been earned since the Spanish Grand Prix, meaning the threat of a ban would hang over him until well into the 2023 F1 season.

Gasly’s last races as an AlphaTauri driver were little to write home about, and his hopes of a final points finish were dashed. He was outperformed by Tsunoda in Mexico but managed to turn the table in Interlagos, finishing 12th before dropping back to 14th after another penalty for speeding in the pit lane. His final race with the team in Abu Dhabi was underwhelming, as he failed to follow Tsunoda through to Q2 then struggled to make progress through the field on a one-stop strategy. He eventually finishing 14th, three places behind his team mate.

With that, Gasly’s time as an AlphaTauri and Red Bull driver had reached its end. A disappointingly muted final season for a driver who had produced one of the team’s best ever seasons just one year prior and contributed a rare victory the season before. However, as Gasly moves to Alpine to start a new chapter of his career, he carries over the unfortunate legacy of his perilous penalty points predicament, which could well disadvantage him and his new team during the early phase of next season.

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