Gasly “disgusted” not to have been able to defend his 6th place in the championship

The chances of Pierre Gasly to maintain his 6th place in the Drivers' championship were reduced to nothing from the first meters of the race when the Frenchman was hit from behind by Lance stroll then lost his front wing when crashing into the other Racing Point of Sergio Pérez. 

Forced to complete his opening lap in slow motion, the driver Toro Rosso then had to wait a long time in the pits while his muzzle was changed. Starting a lap behind the entire peloton, Gasly could not do better than 18th between the two Williams by George Russell and Robert Kubica. 

The Norman also saw Carlos Sainz steal this famous 6th place in the Drivers' standings on the last lap when the Spaniard McLaren snatched the last point put into play. 

« I don't want to say too much because I might be unpleasant with Lance... commented a still angry Gasly after the checkered flag. It's the last GP of the season and my race is ruined from the first turn. We found ourselves one lap behind everyone. I spent the entire race praying for a Safety Car. I was watching the evolution of the ranking while I was not able to fight against Carlos. 

It’s really annoying because we had a good car. There was the potential for a good result when we see where Daniil ends up (Kvyat) and Carlos (9th and 10th, Editor’s note), I'm really disappointed because we could keep 6th place, we had the pace and the good tire strategy by starting from 11th position on the grid. 

I don't have eyes in the back of my head so I'm going to avoid commenting too much before reviewing the images. Someone hit me from behind, I lost control of the front axle and hit Checo (Perez). Time to change the muzzle and we were one lap behind everyone. It was a boring ride after that ». 

The Yas Marina stewards chose not to study the incident between Gasly and Racing Point, while Stroll was satisfied with the following explanation:  « I blocked the wheel and hit Gasly. It's the race ».

The Frenchman will be able to console himself by seeing how brilliantly he was able to bounce back after his demotion to Toro Rosso during the summer. But the frustration was clearly too great just after the finish to fully appreciate this recovery.