Pierre Gasly brought home a brilliant sixth place at the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, in what was one of the craziest races in Formula One history. Team-mate Yuki Tsunoda felt the full brunt of the chaotic race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, he finished fourteenth.
Gasly was one of the few drivers who actually had a relatively uneventful race, whereas those around him were caught up in the craziness of the Grand Prix. The Frenchman started the race in sixth and had initially lost a few places after the first start but regained the places during the multiple race stoppages.
Gasly is happy with his sixth place in what was an intense race for all the drivers.
“I’m very pleased with today, finishing in the top six in front of Ferrari, I’m really happy with that result and we’re taking home a lot of points again. We knew it was going to be tricky coming to a new track, but we’ve performed well throughout the weekend and had a strong starting position today.
“It was a difficult race, with lots of things happening and it was very long, which meant it required a lot of focus. We know how complicated it is into the first corner here, so having three starts was intense, but we tried to take every opportunity we could and in the end I think we did a good job.”
“I pushed a bit too hard” – Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda was one of the drivers who suffered a chaotic race, the Japanese driver started in eighth but quickly fell backwards, in the end fourteenth was all the rookie could manage.
Tsunoda’s race was effectively over after colliding with Sebastian Vettel, the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver pushed too hard going into Turn 1 and came together with the German after running deep into the corner. Tsunoda’s front-wing was destroyed resulting in a slow drive back to the pits.
Tsunoda realises it was his mistake and apologised to Vettel, the rookie is disappointed with his result after having good pace all weekend.
“It’s been a tough afternoon. I struggled at the beginning of the race, but I think the final restart went well and I managed to gain back some places. Unfortunately, I pushed a bit too hard and I had the collision with Vettel. The pace in the car was looking quite good at that point in the race, so I should’ve held off and waited for another opportunity to overtake, it was my mistake and I’ve apologised to him. It’s frustrating as I feel like points were on offer today.”
