Pierre Gasly has revealed that he has cleared the confusion about his apparent Singapore drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso with Helmut Marko, and said his words were taken out of context.
Rumours around the Italian Grand Prix were linking Gasly with the drive currently held by the under pressure Daniil Kvyat, but the Frenchman has dismissed the rumours as just that, and with Marko having been vehement that Kvyat was not about to lose his drive, it was urgent that both parties cleared up what went down.
It was within an interview with Spanish TV during the Monza weekend where the rumours gathered pace, but Gasly revealed that his words were never intended to link him with an imminent move into the Toro Rosso outfit.
“During the interview, they told me: ‘Some rumours claim that you will be driving in Singapore’,” said Gasly to motorsport.com. “When they said this, I replied ‘Will I? Really? Let’s hope it’s true. I must see with Helmut what they have decided’.
“Then, during the interview, I just told them that I was hoping to get to F1 as early as possible and doing my best. That really is what I want for next year, that’s my goal.
“Based on these words, someone claimed that I had said I was going to replace Daniil in Singapore. Yet, I never said that, it never happened.
“It created a whole controversy and it wasn’t necessarily very nice, because those people claimed that I had said things that I had never said, and that didn’t necessarily show me to my advantage. It’s sad to see that some people make up scoops like this, just to cause a stir. That’s how it is.”
Having discussed what happened, Marko requested Gasly to clear the air with the press in order to put the confusion to bed.
“He told me: ‘Call the journalist to get things straight, because it’s not good to have such rumours going around’,” said Gasly.
“I got things straight with Helmut, but it shows that there are not only people who try to help drivers, others try to make me look like someone I’m not. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it is.”
