Gasly crashes in Jeddah, a first since 2023: "I was half a car ahead of Tsunoda"

Last year, you may have seen this statistic: Pierre Gasly would have been, in 2024, the only driver (and first in history) to finish a full season of Formula 1 without having had the slightest damage on his car, without having cost a single cent to Alpine his fault. Obviously, even if this statistic is factually unverifiable, it still illustrated the Norman's "cleanliness" on the track. Alas, after only five Grands Prix, the French driver can no longer boast such a record in 2025.

« The situation is, for me, quite clear." believes Gasly

Indeed, it was in the wall on the outside of the fifth corner of the Corniche circuit that Pierre Gasly ended his Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this Sunday. After starting from 9th place on the grid, the Rouen driver was then neck and neck with Yuki tsunoda approaching turn 4. The driver Alpine tried to go through the outside of the Red Bull, but the Japanese driver clipped the Frenchman's left rear wheel and sent him into the barrier. Pierre Gasly was unable to avoid contact with the wall and blew out the rear of his car, forcing him to retire on the first lap.

🚦 The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is ​​underway! 🇸🇦

Gasly and Tsunoda collide and have to retire ❌

Verstappen receives a 5-second penalty for overtaking Piastres off-piste 🔍#SaudiArabianGP | #F1 pic.twitter.com/YZSmK4FaVc

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) April 20, 2025

"It's a shame. From the inside, I had a good line into Turn 4, reacted Pierre Gasly at the microphone of Canal+, regarding his clash with his friend Yuki Tsunoda. I try to leave as much space as possible so that we can both take the corner. Unfortunately, it's not a big deal. It's a very costly contact, so it's frustrating. We'll have to bounce back to get the points in Miami. The situation is, for me, quite clear. I try to go as wide as possible because I knew he was on the inside, so I knew I had to leave him space. On the exit, I'm already two wheels out and I'm forced to stay on the track. I was half a car ahead of him, so it doesn't take long to understand the incident.

Alpine loses ground to Williams

This is a rare enough fact to be noted regarding Pierre Gasly: ​​in fact, it is his first retirement following a collision since the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. The day after another passage in Q3, this retirement hurts in the clan Alpine, who could legitimately claim points this Sunday in Jeddah. Meanwhile, Williams scored a double with its two drivers and scored six additional points in the fight for 5th place in the Constructors' Championship. "We're going to focus on Miami because we were fast all weekend, the team did a very good job and I'm disappointed for them. Today, we would have been in a fight with the Williams. We have to focus on the positives from the weekend and work on the few little details that were less good.", confided the French driver, who tried, as best he could, to find something positive in this disappointing evening for the French team.

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