An under pressure Pierre Gasly has voiced his disappointment at failing to finish in the “lottery” of the wet 2019 German Grand Prix, after late-race contact with Alexander Albon saw him retire with just two laps remaining.
As rumours gather pace surrounding his future with Red Bull Racing, Gasly went backwards from his fourth place starting slot at Hockenheim, finding himself last of the runners in the early stages.
While his team-mate Max Verstappen headed for his second victory in three races, Gasly found himself battling with Scuderia Toro Rosso‘s Alexander Albon, the man many pick as favourite to replace Gasly in the senior Red Bull team, for sixth place.
Exiting the tight turn six hairpin, Gasly made a move to draft by Albon, but as the Toro Rosso rookie moved to defend the position, the pair made contact with Gasly losing his front wing and puncturing his front left tyre.
Gasly says it’s “annoying not to score points” as he falls a mammoth 107-points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ standings.
“That was an insane, crazy race and it just had everything,” said Gasly. “With the rain, crashes, safety cars and pit stops, it was a lottery and there were a lot of opportunities so I’m quite disappointed not to have made the most of it on my side and not finish the race.
“Towards the end, I was fighting with Alex during the last few laps and we made contact, which took my front wing off and gave me a puncture, so I had to stop the car.
“I don’t know what to say but it’s annoying not to score points when you have a race like this. “At the start, I had wheel spin so I was slow off the line and I lost a lot of positions into Turn One so it was quite hectic from there.”
With pressure mounting and the security of his Red Bull drive in doubt, Gasly remains adamant that he had the pace in Germany, but admits he needed to get lucky in the tricky conditions.
“In these conditions, it’s a gamble when to pit and when not to and sometimes you just need to get lucky but the pace was there so we will keep pushing and next week, we go again in Hungary.
“For the Team and Honda, it was great to get Max’s win today and bag another decent amount of points.”
Gasly remains in sixth in the drivers’ standings on fifty-five points, sixty-five behind fifth place Charles Leclerc and now just seven ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr.
