Formula 1

Gasly hopes Honda can fight for ‘wins and the championship’ before F1 exit

3 Mins read
Alpha Tauri - Russia
Credit: Red Bull Content Pool

After Honda announced their departure from Formula 1 just one week ago, Scuderia AlphaTauri F1 Team‘s Pierre Gasly has voiced his sadness that the manufacturer will not remain supplying in the sport.

The Frenchman admitted he is ‘sad that Honda is leaving Formula 1’ and expressed his gratitude for the team’s contribution to his career, citing that ‘the people [there] played an important role’ in his F1 vocation. Being a strong optimist, though, Gasly appears to be looking at the positives of the situation: He and Honda still have a year to challenge for glory.

I have to admit I’m sad that Honda is leaving Formula 1 after the experiences we shared together over the past four years. The people at Honda have played an important role in my career and I have always loved working with them.

But we will still be together until the end of next year and I hope we can try and fight for more wins together before then, and that Honda will be in a position to fight for the championship title.”

With regards to the upcoming race in Germany, Gasly is hungry for another strong result. After leaving Russia feeling the race ‘did not go as well as it could have’ the pressure is on for the French driver to excel at the Nürburgring – a track he has previous experience on.

I reckon the last time I raced at the Nürburgring was in 2014 in the 3.5 Formula. It’s a track I really appreciate as it’s pretty technical, with a special mix of corners, some slow and medium-speed where you can get into a rhythm.

It seems as though it’s going to be cold, which is not surprising there. I’d quite like it to rain as we haven’t had many races in the rain. Overtaking is not that easy so it will be important to qualify well, and with none of us having been there for a while, we will have to do plenty of work in free practice to find the right set-up compromise as quickly as possible.

Gasly concluded: “It will be a nice challenge for everyone.”

Daniil Kvyat: “I was surprised to hear the news that Honda will leave F1 at the end of next year”

Lingering in a lowly fourteenth in the standings, AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat is eager to score some vital world championship points at the Nürburgring.

Being an obvious early recipient of the latest Honda news, The Russian admitted he was ‘surprised’ to learn of the engine-suppliers rather sudden exit from the sport.

I was surprised to hear the news that Honda will leave F1 at the end of next year. It is sad on a human level as I enjoy working with their engineers, and disappointing from a racing point of view because they have worked so hard to give us the best possible power unit and we have seen it deliver some excellent results so far. The Honda guys at the track are really committed and I’m sure they will continue to push while they are still in the sport.”

The ‘green hell’ is a track he says is ‘old-school’ and ‘enjoyable to drive’, and after seven years since his last visit, Kvyat is anticipating a thrilling, action-packed and challenging race.

I haven’t raced at the Nürburgring for quite a while: seven years in fact since I was there in GP3. It’s a very cool, classic old-school track, with a lot of history and I’m excited about going back there. The weather has been a talking point and it does seem as though it might be quite cold there. It will be intriguing because, although we have encountered it in testing at times, we have never really had a race in extremely cold conditions. All we can hope for is that it doesn’t snow!
 
“It’s an enjoyable track to drive, although there is no particular section that stands out. It’s interesting, with a couple of slow chicanes and high-speed ones too. Turn 1 can be a bit tricky, especially on the opening lap as you are braking downhill with quite a gradient. There are several ways of tackling it and you need to find a good line.

In terms of how our car will perform this weekend, we saw some encouraging signs in Russia and if it continues there is always a chance to do quite well. Hopefully, we won’t be caught out by the conditions. Some other teams in the midfield are very competitive, but we are always somewhere in that mix. 

Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
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