F1 | French GP | Gasly "pleased" with points at his home race
Pierre Gasly was pleased with seventh place in Paul Ricard as the Frenchman attempted to fend off McLaren's Lando Norris for on track position.
Scuderia AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly defended his driving in a tight battle with Lando Norris as the Frenchman scored his sixth consecutive points finish after finishing seventh in yesterday's French Grand Prix.
The Frenchman who came into his home Grand Prix weekend fresh off a podium in the last round in Baku couldn't repeat the feat in Paul Ricard, as the Alpha Tauri struggled for race pace as both the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo undercut the Frenchman after the first round of pitstops.
At the end of the race, Gasly reflected on what was an interesting home race to Formula 1.com.
"All in all, this day, I need to let all my emotions calm down a bit – it was an intense race with a lot of things going on, P7, we are the fourth-best car at the end behind the two McLarens, two Mercedes and two Red Bulls. So I think we can only be pleased with that.
“Obviously, there are still a couple of things which I feel we could have done slightly differently; around the pit stop, we let Charles and Ricciardo undercut us. This cost us track position, so I had to battle straight out of the box and damage the tyres quite early in the stint. There are still a few things we need to review but all in all, P7, fourth-best car, we can’t complain about that. A lot of good battles, so I think it was a strong race.”
Gasly also defended his driving after an intense battle with Lando Norris after the Brit complained on the team radio after both drivers went off the track at Turn 11.
“I’m sure [he complained]! It was hard racing but I really enjoyed it. You can’t expect to go around the outside and the guy not to fight. I tried to keep it clean, it’s a very difficult corner, very long, on the edge of the grip. Also a tailwind, so it was difficult to keep the car on the track. I haven’t seen the footage, I’ll look at the footage to see if it was too much or not. But everyone likes a bit of racing.
“I was on the kerb on the exit, I tried to keep it clean, I’m a fair racer. In the end, I’m pleased. The next lap we fought again. It’s racing.”
