The 2016 GP2 Champion was made to wait for his F1 opportunity, but it finally came late in 2017. After a number of impressive drives, Gasly joined Red Bull for the 2019 season before being demoted back to Toro Rosso at the summer break. In 2020, he took his first Grand Prix win with AlphaTauri.
| Full Name | Pierre Gasly |
| Nationality | French |
| Date of Birth | 7th February 1996 |
| First Race | 2017 Malaysia Grand Prix |
| First Win | 2020 Italian Grand Prix |
| Wins | 1 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Podiums | 5 |
| Fastest Laps | 3 |
Pierre Gasly was born in Rouen, France in 1996. He competed in his first karting championship at the age of ten, where he finished fifteenth in the French Minime Championship and then went on to finish fourth in the same championship in the following year. He competed in the French Cadet Championship in 2008 and moved to the international KF3 category, eventually finishing as runner-up in the 2010 CIK-FIA European Championship.
Moving to single-seaters for 2011, Gasly moved in to the French F4 Championship, where he enjoyed three victories and finished third in the end of year standings. The Formula Renault Eurocup followed in 2012 and more podiums came the Frenchman’s way. He went on to beat Oliver Rowland to the title in that series in 2013 with three wins and eight podiums. Moving into Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014, he finished runner-up to fellow Red Bull junior Carlos Sainz. While Sainz went on to race with Toro Rosso in the 2015 F1 season, Gasly was signed up as Red Bull’s reserve driver.
Alongside his Red Bull duties, Gasly competed in his first season of GP2 in 2015. He had made his début at the Monza event in 2014, filling in for Tom Dillmann for one race only. Racing with DAMS for his first full season, Gasly showed he had the speed, taking three poles and four podiums, but also showed inexperience, causing a number of collisions throughout the year. Along with his GP2 program, the Frenchman received his first taste of driving an F1 car, testing with Toro Rosso and Red Bull in May. For 2016, Gasly continued in GP2 with the new Prema team. He and team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi led the team to their first title on their first attempt, while the pair battled for the Drivers’ Title until the final weekend of the season. It was Gasly who came out on top, winning the title by eight points with four wins over the year.
With no places available at the Toro Rosso team, Pierre Gasly was forced to have a year on the sidelines in 2017, but still raced in the Japanese Super Formula series. After months of persistent rumours, Gasly made his F1 début at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix with Toro Rosso, replacing Daniil Kvyat. He stayed for just two races before jetting off to Japan to compete in the final round of the Super Formula season, where he was still in title contention. The trip was ultimately a wasted journey, as the race meeting was cancelled due to bad weather. Gasly finished all the F1 Grands Prix he started in 2017, with a best finish of twelfth at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Frenchman embarked on his first full F1 season with Toro Rosso in 2018 and made better use of the Honda-powered car than his team-mate. After a disappointing start in Australia, which saw him qualify last and retire with an engine failure in the early stages, Gasly finished a highly impressive fourth in the Bahrain Grand Prix, equalling the team’s second-best-ever result. Other impressive drives followed, including in Hungary where he finished best of the rest once again with a sixth place result. Just after that strong showing, it was announced that Gasly would join Red Bull for 2019.
GASLY IN 2019
Pierre Gasly’s Q1 exit in Australia, the result of a miscalculation by Red Bull, set the mood for his stint at the team. Unable to compete with Max Verstappen and with a sense that the pressure was getting to him, Gasly was replaced by Alex Albon for the second half of the 2019 season, and moved back to Toro Rosso.
His Red Bull stint was not all bad – he finished in the top six four times, equalling his career-best result (up to that point) with fourth at the British Grand Prix – but he re-found his form when he moved back to Toro Rosso. Despite having to readjust to the team’s machinery, it did not take Gasly long to regularly out-perform Daniil Kvyat. He scored in nine of the eleven races since his return to the team. The season culminated in an unexpected podium finish in Brazil, as he fought to the line with Lewis Hamilton for second place. Read more: Pierre Gasly’s 2019 Season In Statistics.
GASLY IN 2020
One of the highlights of the 2020 season for most F1 fans was Pierre Gasly’s shock win at the Italian Grand Prix – in part due to there being a surprise winner, in part due to it being the Red Bull junior team’s first win in twelve years, but mostly because it proved that Gasly’s career was back on track. Dropped from Red Bull halfway through 2019, Gasly began to impress again on his return to Toro Rosso, recording a podium finish at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix. His strengths were even more apparent in 2020, recording points in ten of the season’s seventeen races and reaching Q3 eleven times.
Gasly scored 70% of AlphaTauri’s points in 2020, and out-qualified team-mate Daniil Kvyat on all but four occasions. Other notable performances included sixth places at the Eifel and Bahrain Grands Prix and fifth place at the Portuguese Grand Prix. He also qualified in a strong fourth place for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, only to be let down by reliability issues in the race. Read more: Pierre Gasly’s 2020 Season In Statistics.
Gasly will remain at AlphaTauri in 2021, partnering rookie Yuki Tsunoda. If Gasly can continue performances shown in 2020, it will only be a matter of time before Red Bull – or another front-running team – comes calling again.
PIERRE GASLY’S F1 RECORD
| Year | Team | Final Position | Points Scored | Wins | Poles | Podiums |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Toro Rosso | 21st | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | Toro Rosso | 15th | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Red Bull / Toro Rosso | 7th | 95 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020 | AlphaTauri | 10th | 75 | 1 | 0 | 1 |