Pierre Gasly’s one-hundredth career Formula 1 Race proved to be one to remember, as the Scuderia AlphaTauri driver battled his way back from a pit-lane start to secure a ninth-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The French driver had originally taken advantage of a number of penalties further up the grid, as his twelfth-place finish in qualifying turned into an eighth placed start for the Grand Prix.
However, an electrical system failure prior to the race start saw Gasly forced into starting his race from the pit-lane.
Pitting early, Gasly was able to undertake a large stint on the hard tyres before finishing his race on the Medium compound. The extra pace provided by the medium tyres towards the end of the race allowed Gasly to work his way from seventeenth on lap twenty-three to a ninth placed finish come the end of the Grand Prix.
Speaking after the race, Gasly described his comeback at the Belgian Grand Prix as ‘incredible’.
“It’s been an amazing race, it’s my 100th race today, so it’s a special one. I’m really surprised with how we’ve finished, after having to start from the pitlane to come back home in the top 10 is pretty incredible, so we should be happy with that today.
“We were obviously lined up in P8 on the grid, but had an issue and had to return to the garage, luckily we got the car started, and were able to begin the race from the pitlane.
“The car isn’t quite where we want it to be yet, we’ve still got some areas we need to work on, but I’m pleased we managed to be back scoring points again today.”
Yuki Tsunoda: “I’m pretty happy with how I drove“
Just like his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda was forced to start his Belgian Grand Prix from the pit-lane after the team decided on a new power unit for his AT03 shortly after qualifying.
Tsunoda was unable to follow his team-mate’s lead around the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit, as a different strategy to that of his team-mate proved to cost Tsunoda any chance of the points today.
Starting on the Hard compound tyres, Tsunoda faced a longer first stint before pitting for the medium tyres on lap nineteen. The Japanese driver showed a strong level of pace during his second stint and was able to momentarily occupy a place in the points, but a second pit-stop of the day on lap thirty-one would see Tsunoda denied any realistic chance of a points finish.
Tsunoda would come home for an eventual thirteenth place finish, extending his streak of finishing outside the points, which dates back to the Spanish Grand Prix in May.
Despite another point-less finish for Tsunoda, the Japanese driver was looking to take the positives from the race and is hopeful the team will be able to take their strong pace into Zandvoort next weekend.
“Starting from the pitlane was always going to be tough, but I think the pace was strong today and we had a good strategy, being able to make our way forward during the race. Unfortunately, we lost quite a lot of time in the pitstops and then I got stuck in a DRS train, but I’m pretty happy with how I drove today and how the car felt.
“Hopefully we can maintain the performance we’ve found this weekend in the Netherlands, alongside a clean race weekend, and aim once again for the points.”
