Pierre Gasly: ​​“The car was so fast”

The offbeat strategy imagined by Toro Rosso for Pierre Gasly will have been beneficial to the French driver in Monaco. Having managed to hoist his STR13 into Q3 on Saturday, the former GP2 Series champion pushed his car shod with hyper-soft tires until the 37th lap, the longest first stint of all the drivers who started on this compound in the race.

Enough to attack his second part of the race with a set of super-soft tires, visibly effective on the Monaco turnstile, and thus be able to keep the return of Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull).

“My first Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1 and my second in the points, honestly it was an incredible race, admits the Norman. We knew it could be difficult but the car was so fast.

I tried to pay attention to the tires at the start, and when I was alone on the track I was able to push hard because I was confident with the car. We managed to come out after the pits in front of the others and I fought to keep Hulkenberg because we know that in Monaco it is difficult to pass.

I just tried to stay focused and not make any mistakes because in the end the tires were quite worn. »

Enough to largely alleviate the disappointment in the Toro Rosso clan for Brendon Hartley. In the running for the top 10, the New Zealander was eliminated at the end of the event after a collision caused by the Sauber of Charles Leclerc in distress with a broken brake disc.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Monaco Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in the Principality, in issue 2167 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version, and this Wednesday on newsstands.