Gasly is getting stronger and stronger on his journey of redemption following his Red Bull demotion in mid-2019.
A third place finish and a podium in Baku were the culmination of a remarkably consistent F1 season in 2021 for Gasly, who took a total of five top-five finishes over 22 laps.
Gasly climbed into the triple digits for the first time in his F1 career, scooping a total of 110 points on his way to ninth place in the championship.
Gasly’s efforts resulted in him contributing to well over half of AlphaTauri’s total points win, 78 more than his rookie teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
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This helped the Faenza team to finish sixth in the constructors’ championship for the third time in its F1 history in what is undoubtedly the team’s most competitive season.
Gasly exploited the full potential and electrifying speed of the AT02 in one lap, which was underlined by his impressive qualifying performances throughout the year.
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The Frenchman finished in the top six 16 times in qualifying, often ahead of the Ferrari and McLaren cars. His laps up to fourth place on the grid in Baku, Zandvoort and Qatar were spectacular and the obvious highlights of his season.
Gasly beat his teammate on both laps and races, beating Tsunoda 16-5 on Sundays. He boasted the most dominant qualifying record of any pair of drivers in 2021 after overtaking Tsunoda with a near-perfect record of 2-1. Only the excellent lap by Tsunoda in Abu Dhabi saved him from total annihilation in qualifying.
Given Tsunoda’s inexperience, Gasly found himself working as a team leader at AlphaTauri – a position he enjoyed while constantly looking for improvement.
Gasly’s season wasn’t flawless, but mistakes were rare. Breaking his front wing after awkward first-lap contact with Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren in Bahrain and Italy has been the worst offenses of this otherwise stellar season.
At 25, Gasly is in the shape of his life. Although a return to the Red Bull senior fold is not in sight, his brilliant performances certainly pose a difficult dilemma for Milton Keynes’ top bosses.
At least for the time being, he finds himself in a happy home at AlphaTauri and gets the best out of himself in a more relaxed team environment.
It would be interesting to see how Gasly would handle it if he had another chance at the top of the grid. After his accomplishments over the past 18 months, it would definitely be deserved.
Gasly could well be forced to fly the Red Bull nest for such a chance if he continues to shine and again be overlooked in the first campaign of the brand new era of F1.
While he hasn’t had the chance to add to his win record in a more competitive AlphaTauri car, 2021 will ultimately be considered Gasly’s best season in Formula 1 to date.
Come back on Monday to find out who is number 5 on our list.
