Pierre Gasly the resilient

September 6, 2020 will remain forever engraved in the history of French sport but especially in the memory of Pierre Gasly. That Sunday, the Norman touched the sky and climbed to the top of the podium for the first time in his young career. That day he was waiting for him, he had come in F1 for that and we can only take our hats off to him because to get there the path has not been a long, quiet river, on the contrary.

After having proven itself in karting (French champion, European vice-champion, fourth in the world championship in 2010), Pierre Gasly makes the big leap towards car. Then begins a new adventure.

For his first year in the French Formula 4 championship in 2011, he finished the season 3rd behind Andrea Pizzitola and the champion Matthieu Vaxivière but it was in 2013 that his career accelerated. For his second bank in Formula Renault Eurocup 2.0, the Habs, then 17 years old, won the championship title, one of the turning points in his career.

Freshly crowned, Pierre Gasly continues to climb the ranks and arrives in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2014, where he will only stay for one year. Time for him to finish second behind Carlos Sainz and above all to compete in his first GP2 rounds at the end of the season with the EQ8 Caterham Racing team before participating fully in 2015 with DAMS.

For his first full season in the discipline, the native of Bois-Guillaume finished in an honorable 8th place in the championship with four podiums in particular. Member of the Red Bull Junior Team, he became a reserve driver for the Austrian F1 team which offered him some private tests in 2015 with Toro Rosso before confirming the full extent of his talent in 2016.

Having moved to Prema, he clearly shows that he has the ability to fight for the title. A title that he secured during the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi. The world of F1 then seems promised to him in 2016 but unfortunately the doors are not opening, for the moment.

Helmed by Daniil Kvyat and Carlos Sainz at Toro Rosso, Pierre Gasly chose to go into exile in Japan and continue his apprenticeship in Super Formula in 2017. A choice that paid off since after a second place in the championship (half a point behind Hiroaki Ishuara), the Frenchman is finally offered a seat in Formula 1 even before the season comes to an end.

Welcome to the big leagues

Then third Red Bull driver, he was called to replace Daniil Kvyat at Toro Rosso at the Malaysian Grand Prix and was then confirmed as the starter. Renewed in 2018 alongside Brendon Hartley, Pierre Gasly performs well with the little sister of the Austrian team. In Bahrain, he notably finished 4th with the Honda engine so much criticized by the field since his return. These results allow the Frenchman to land second at the parent company for the 2019 season.

Now at the forefront, the Norman is in possession of a car made for winning, or at least podiums. Subject to pressure from his managers, Pierre Gasly fails to find his feet and after the first part of the season his bosses decide to send him back to Toro Rosso. A real blow but not enough for him to give up.

Returning to Toro Rosso, the 23-year-old driver at the time was determined to prove the Austrian staff wrong. Despite this demotion, he showed solidity and brought his team points for the constructors' classification before definitively silencing the critics in Brazil. At Interlagos, he reached a Formula 1 podium for the first time, finishing second behind his former teammate, Max Verstappen.

Once again a starter at Toro Rosso, now renamed Alpha Tauri, this year, Pierre Gasly displays a completely different face, that of a future Grand Prix winner. After a sluggish start to the season, full of maturity and above all promising, deliverance came at Monza where he won his first Formula 1 race, the high point of his young career.

Hailed by his peers, Pierre Gasly showed resilience after a very turbulent 2019 for him. Twenty-four years after Olivier Panis in Monaco, he not only climbed to the top of the podium at Monza. He demonstrated that in sport, as in our daily lives, we must not admit defeat. Life will always offer us revenge, and we must seize it. Well done Pierre!

Find the analysis of Pierre Gasly's victory at the Italian GP by our special correspondent in issue 2277 of AUTOhebdo, already available in digital version and on newsstands this Wednesday.