Pierre Gasly admitted that he helped Antonio Giovinazzi throughout the 2016 season but he did not expect him to be as quick as he was in his rookie campaign.
The two drivers were team-mates at Prema Racing in 2016 and finished first and second in the GP2 Series standings, with the Frenchman coming out on top in a final round decider in Abu Dhabi, but the Red Bull-backed Gasly only had praise for the likeable and talented Italian, who has recently been confirmed to be the Scuderia Ferrari reserve driver in 2017.
“He’s the kind of guy you can’t fault,” said Gasly to Autosport. “He’s super-nice, really natural, a great guy. He’s older than me but I had more experience of GP2, and I didn’t expect him to that quick straight away.
“Every time I could, I gave him some tips. I was really open, that’s the way I work with all my team-mates. But at the end of the year I thought maybe I’ve been a bit nice with him because now I was fighting with him!
“Of course there was some tension in Abu Dhabi – it was a little bit different to usual – but it didn’t change anything in our off-track relations.”