Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly (; born 7 February 1996) is a French racing driver, currently competing in Formula One under the French flag, racing for Scuderia AlphaTauri. He is the 2016 GP2 Series champion, and the runner-up in the 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 Series and the 2017 Super Formula Championship. He made his Formula One debut with Toro Rosso at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix. He moved to Red Bull Racing in 2019, before moving back after trading with Alexander Albon from Toro Rosso between the Hungarian and Belgian rounds to partner Daniil Kvyat. Gasly took his maiden Formula One victory at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix while driving for AlphaTauri. Gasly has moved to Alpine for the 2023 season, driving for the French team in the 2022 post-season test in Abu Dhabi.

Personal life

Gasly was born in Rouen, France, to father Jean Jacques Gasly and mother Pascale. Gasly is the youngest of five and has four half brothers: two maternal from his mother's previous marriage, Nicolas Caron and Cyril Caron; and two paternal from his father's previous marriage, Phillipe Gasly and Paul Gasly.

Gasly's family has long been involved in motorsports. His grandfather competed in karting, his grandmother a kart champion, and his father Jean Jacques has also competed in various categories of racing including karting, endurance racing and rallying. His father stopped rallying when he 'fell off mountain' after his co-driver made a mistake reading the pace note. At the age of six, Gasly first experienced karting at a local karting track in Anneville-Ambourville. He was 13 years old when he left Rouen for Le Mans after his commitment for competitive racing.

Gasly grew up alongside Anthoine Hubert; karting with him since the age of seven, being educated at the same private school and having resided together as roommates for several years. He was also friends with Charles Leclerc since a young age and Esteban Ocon during the early stages of his karting career. In 2019 he moved to Milan. Besides his native French, Gasly also speaks Italian and English.

Early career

Karting

Gasly entered competitive karting in 2006 at the age of ten, when he finished fifteenth in the French Minime Championship, before he finished fourth the following year. In 2008 he stepped up to the French Cadet Championship, before moving to the international scene in 2009. He moved into the KF3 category, staying until the end of 2010, when he finished as runner-up in the CIK-FIA European Championship.

Formula Renault

In 2011, Gasly made his début in single-seaters, taking part in the French F4 Championship 1.6-litre category. He finished third behind his future Eurocup rivals Matthieu Vaxivière and Andrea Pizzitola with seven podiums, including wins at Spa, Albi and Le Castellet.

Gasly moved to the 2-litre Formula Renault machinery in 2012, joining R-Ace GP in the Formula Renault Eurocup. He finished tenth with six point-scoring finishes, including podiums at Spa and the Nürburgring. He also had seven starts in the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup with the same team, taking a podium at the Nürburgring.

For 2013, Gasly moved to Tech 1 Racing. He took five podiums, as well as victories at Moscow, the Hungaroring and Le Castellet. He held an eleven-point lead over Oliver Rowland into the final meeting at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and ultimately clinched the title with third and sixth-place finishes; the latter result coming after a collision with Rowland, who received a drive-through penalty as a result.

The driver jumped to Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2014, where he was hired by Arden under the Red Bull Junior Team development program. He finished the season as runner-up to another Red Bull Junior Carlos Sainz Jr., collecting eight podiums in the seventeen races.

GP2 Series

Gasly made his GP2 Series debut in 2014 at Monza circuit in support of Italian Grand Prix, replacing Caterham Racing driver Tom Dillmann who had commitments at other racing series and was unable to participate in GP2 Series races for that weekend. He then partook in post-season testing, driving for DAMS and signed with the French team to race alongside the British driver Alex Lynn, development driver of Williams F1 Team. Though taking three pole positions and four podiums, Gasly experienced an uneven season, including causing collisions in Bahrain, Spa and Yas Marina (which got the subsequent race cancelled), which saw him finish eighth, two places behind teammate Lynn.

Gasly would switch to newcomers Prema Powerteam alongside 2015 European Formula 3 runner-up and GP2 rookie Antonio Giovinazzi for 2016. He would go on to become the GP2 Series champion that season.

Japanese Super Formula

Gasly joined Team Mugen to drive a Red Bull-sponsored Honda at the 2017 Super Formula Championship, winning two races, and almost winning the championship by half a point.

Formula E

Gasly made a one-off Formula E appearance for Renault where he replaced Sébastien Buemi for the 2017 New York ePrix, due to the latter's commitments to the World Endurance Championship. In the weekend's first race, Gasly recovered from the poor qualifying performance of 19th to finish seventh in his debut race. Gasly nearly finished on the podium in the second race, hitting the wall on the exit of the final corner while battling for third and limping across the finish line with major damage in fourth.

Formula One

In December 2013 it was announced that Gasly would be inducted into the Red Bull Junior Team for the 2014 Formula One season alongside future GP2 Series teammate Alex Lynn and future Scuderia Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. Gasly's first experience in Formula One machinery came in May 2015 at the in-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. He drove the Toro Rosso STR10 on the first day of the test and the Red Bull RB11 on the second day, recording 203 laps in total. He later tested the RB11 again at the Red Bull Ring in June and was officially named Red Bull Racing's reserve driver in September. Gasly continued testing for Red Bull and Toro Rosso during the and seasons.

Toro Rosso (2017–2018)

Gasly made his Formula One race debut at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix with Toro Rosso, replacing Daniil Kvyat. He finished the Malaysian and Japanese Grands Prix outside the points. Gasly was expected to take Carlos Sainz Jr.'s seat at the after Sainz left for Renault, but he was forced to miss the race due to a clash with the final round of the 2017 Super Formula Championship. He returned to the team for the , partnering with Brendon Hartley after the team decided to drop Kvyat from the Red Bull programme.

Gasly and Hartley became full-time Toro Rosso drivers for the season. At the , Gasly qualified sixth but was promoted to fifth on the grid after a penalty for Lewis Hamilton. He finished the race in fourth place after Kimi Räikkönen retired, earning his first points finish in Formula One. A week later at the , he crashed into teammate Hartley in what the two confessed as being a 'miscommunication'. Gasly recorded four more points finishes during the season, including seventh place at the and sixth place at the . He ended the season in fifteenth place in the championship with 29 points, comfortably ahead of Hartley's total of four points.

Red Bull (2019)

Gasly was contracted to drive for Red Bull Racing for the season, partnering Max Verstappen following the departure of Daniel Ricciardo to Renault. Gasly qualified seventeenth at his first race with the team, the and failed to score in the race. He again failed to qualify in the top ten at the following , and retired from sixth place with a driveshaft issue at the . He scored points at the following six races but finished a lap behind the leaders at the Canadian, French and Austrian Grands Prix, the latter of which was won by Verstappen. His best result with Red Bull Racing came at the where he finished fourth after Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel collided ahead. At the , Gasly retired after colliding with Alex Albon's Toro Rosso in an attempt to overtake for sixth place.

Gasly came under increasing pressure at the , where he finished sixth having been lapped by Verstappen. Despite Gasly's poor results, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and advisor Helmut Marko stated that the team intended to keep Gasly until the end of the season. At this stage of the season, Gasly was sixth in the drivers' championship with 63 points. Verstappen, meanwhile, had recorded 181 points, two race wins, five podium finishes, and one pole position.

Return to Toro Rosso (2019)

Ahead of the , Gasly was demoted back to junior team Toro Rosso with Alex Albon taking his place at Red Bull. Red Bull stated that the swap was made in order to "make an informed decision as to who will drive alongside Max erstappenin 2020", with Horner remarking that "we desperately need aslyrealising more of the potential of the car."

During the remainder of the season at Toro Rosso, partnering with Daniil Kvyat, Gasly achieved five points finishes, including ninth place at his first race back at the team at the . His best result came at the , where he qualified in seventh place and took advantage of retirements from Valtteri Bottas and both Ferrari drivers, as well as a collision between Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon, to finish the race in second place after holding off Hamilton in a straight drag to the finish line. This marked the first podium finish of Gasly's Formula One career, Toro Rosso's best race result since the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, and Honda's first 1–2 finish since the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix. On his cool-down lap, Gasly remarked over the radio: "This is the best day of my life". He ended the season seventh in the drivers' championship with 95 points.

AlphaTauri (2020–2022)

2020

Gasly was retained by the team, along with Kvyat, as they rebranded to Scuderia AlphaTauri. Gasly achieved four points finishes in the first seven races of the season, with best results of seventh place at the Austrian and British Grands Prix.

At the , an early pit stop allowed Gasly to pass several drivers - who had to wait for the pitlane to open during a safety car procedure - promoting him to third place. As race leader Hamilton entered the pits to serve a penalty and second-placed driver Lance Stroll lost places at the restart, Gasly inherited the lead of the race and held off the late-charging Carlos Sainz Jr. to take his first win in Formula One, becoming the 109th different race winner and the first French driver to win a Grand Prix since Olivier Panis' victory at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, 24 years prior. This prompted speculation that Gasly could return to Red Bull, as his replacement, Alex Albon, finished only fifteenth. Gasly remarked that he was 'ready' to do so. AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost praised Gasly's race but dismissed the possibility of Gasly returning to Red Bull in the near future.

Gasly was eliminated in a first-lap collision at the following race, the . He scored points at the next three races, including fifth place at the , but retired with a coolant leak at the having qualified a season-best fourth. He finished the 2020 season tenth in the drivers' championship with 75 points, ahead of teammate Kvyat's 32 points.

2021

Gasly was retained by AlphaTauri for , partnered by Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda. He qualified fifth for the season-opening but collided with Daniel Ricciardo and later retired from the race. He then scored points at the following six races, including his third career podium at the . He qualified fourth, dropped to fifth early in the race, but benefited from a tyre failure for Max Verstappen and a mistake from Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages and prevailed in a battle with Charles Leclerc on the penultimate lap to finish third. Gasly's points streak ended at the when he was eliminated by a first-lap collision with Leclerc. A late-race puncture at the dropped Gasly out of the points positions.

At the , Gasly crashed out in sprint qualifying after he made contact with Daniel Ricciardo, wedging his front wing underneath his wheels. He retired from the race on lap four due to damaged suspension. He finished sixth at the despite a penalty for causing a collision with Fernando Alonso. Gasly started on the front row for the first time at the but finished the race outside the points. Gasly finished the season ninth in the drivers' standings with 110 of AlphaTauri's 142 points, his highest ever points tally in a single season.

2022

Gasly continued to race for AlphaTauri in alongside Tsunoda. An engine fire caused his retirement from the season-opening . He scored points at the Saudi Arabian and Australian Grands Prix, but failed to do so at the following four races, which included retirement from a collision with Lando Norris at the . He ended the zero-point streak by finishing fifth at the . Five more races without points followed, including a collision with teammate Tsunoda that ended his race at the . Gasly qualified tenth at the but collided with Lewis Hamilton in the sprint and Sebastian Vettel in the race, finishing fifteenth.

He was set to start the from eighth place, however an electrical issue shortly before the race forced him to start from the pit lane. He recovered to the points positions, finishing ninth. His final points of the season came at the Italian and Singapore Grands Prix. Gasly had ran in seventh place in Singapore, but complained that the team "threw away" this result by switching him to dry-weather tyres too early, dropping him to tenth. At the , Gasly criticised the deployment of a recovery tractor in wet conditions to extract Carlos Sainz Jr.'s crashed car, describing it as "disrespectful" to the memory of the late Jules Bianchi and stating "I could have killed myself". He received a penalty for speeding under the subsequent red flag and was demoted to eighteenth place. Gasly ended the season fourteenth in the drivers' championship, scoring 23 points to Tsunoda's 12.

After the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost confirmed that Gasly had a contract with the team and would remain with them for . In August and September, information emerged that Alpine were targeting Gasly after Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri both left the team, and that Red Bull were willing to release him. Gasly's move to Alpine for 2023 was officially announced in October.

Alpine (2023–)

2023

Gasly signed a multi-year contract to race for Alpine in 2023, partnering fellow French former karting rival Esteban Ocon. AlphaTauri allowed Gasly to join Alpine for the post-season testing immediately after the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Karting record

Karting career summary

Racing record

Racing career summary

Complete Formula Renault 3.5 Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete GP2 Series results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula E results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Super Formula results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicates fastest lap)

Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.

Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gasly, Pierre
1996 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Rouen
French racing drivers
French F4 Championship drivers
Formula One race winners
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC drivers
Formula Renault Eurocup drivers
Formula Renault 2.0 Alps drivers
World Series Formula V8 3.5 drivers
GP2 Series drivers
GP2 Series Champions
Super Formula drivers
Formula E drivers
French Formula One drivers
Toro Rosso Formula One drivers
Red Bull Formula One drivers
AlphaTauri Formula One drivers
Twitch (service) streamers
R-ace GP drivers
Tech 1 Racing drivers
Arden International drivers
DAMS drivers
Prema Powerteam drivers
Mugen Motorsports drivers
Auto Sport Academy drivers
Caterham Racing drivers
Karting World Championship drivers