“Special” to return to the French GP as an F1 race winner

Gasly became the first French Formula 1 winner in 24 years after taking a shock win at last year’s Italian Grand Prix and parrying Carlos Sainz Jr. to score a famous result for AlphaTauri.

Gasly broke through a drought that went back to the individual victory of Olivier Panis for Ligier at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1996 and France’s 13th Grand Prix winner.

But Gasly couldn’t ride on home soil last year after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the French GP from its regular June date.

F1 returns to Paul Ricard this weekend, giving Gasly the chance to race in front of the French fans as a Grand Prix winner for the first time.

“The next is my home race and yes, of course we know that I want to do really well there in front of all the fans and spectators,” said Gasly.

“Especially coming back there as the winner of the race will feel very special.”

Race winner Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT0, 1st place, overtakes his team at the pit wall

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Gasly will also arrive at home after two impressive drives in Monaco and Baku, claiming his third F1 career podium two weeks ago. The result helped AlphaTauri finish fifth in the constructors’ championship ahead of Aston Martin.

Gasly felt that while AlphaTauri had to try to get to the bottom of its tougher races, it had to understand why it had done so well in F1’s first two road races of the year.

“As much as we need to analyze and understand when things are not going well, I think when they are [go] really good – how [in Baku], We showed very, very strong pace all weekend – we have to understand why, ”said Gasly.

“Because at the moment we don’t really have the answer. Of course, such surprises are more often welcome during the season.

“But I think above all we have to understand where it comes from.”