Why Pierre Gasly is a risk taker – and how that mentality helped him rebuild when the chips were down

The last 12 months have been quite a roller coaster ride for Pierre Gasly, the Frenchman being demoted from Red Bull to Toro Rosso last summer to beat six before recovering to rebuild his reputation which culminated in a brilliant win at Monza . This win was helped by taking a risk, the team pitting him in front of the safety car, which gave him a position on the track. And as I learned in my conversation with him, Gasly is something of a risk taker both on and off the track …

Summer 2019 was a difficult one for Pierre Gasly. One moment he was chilling out in the sun with his friends and some of his brothers, the next his work life collapsed around him when Red Bull decided to demote him to promote Alex Albon.

READ MORE: LONG READ – The Rise, Fall and Redemption of Pierre Gasly

The call was like a punch in the stomach. It blew him away. Fortunately, however, he was surrounded by people who could keep him from being forgotten.

“I was really sad the day I got the news,” he said. “After the call, it took me a long time to calm down. But then I said to myself ‘if I pushed 100% before, I’m going to push 110% now and somehow prove to them that they are wrong’. We went straight out and spent two hours in the gym. It was very nice. My friends came and we all trained together with my brothers.

Gasly’s demotion to Toro Rosso ahead of the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix was a blow to the French, but it kept him motivated more than ever

“They’re not athletes, but they said, ‘Okay, we have a mission – your mission is our mission’. I quickly changed my focus because I really believe that nothing can be changed about the past. You can only learn from it. There were many things to take with you from those few months – positives and negatives, because the only thing you can influence is the present, which will influence the future.

“You can plan things for the future, but first things have to happen now. I said to myself: ‘Okay, this is done, regardless of whether I’m happy, upset, sad or disappointed, it doesn’t change anything. I just have to make sure that I have 100% of my capacity and that I am ready when I hit the track in Spa, because that’s the only thing that matters now. “I knew I had to prove myself.”

READ MORE: Gasly is hoping for more wins with Honda ahead of the Japanese company’s “sad” withdrawal

And prove Gasly did it. In the last nine races of the campaign, he scored points in his first race back with Toro Rosso, followed by three more points and a first podium in the penultimate race of the season in Brazil, one point ahead of Albon.

Gasly was reborn, but that didn’t mean he was burying what had happened that summer. “At the end of the year, I had more time to reflect and go deeper into things,” he said. The 24-year-old wanted to learn from his experiences instead of being hit by them. And after a time in which he took “time to separate”, he cracked with a full load and wanted to get started in 2020 immediately.

Brazilian GP 2019: Ecstatic Gasly celebrates a dramatic first podium

And that’s exactly what he did. Even before his overwhelming first win at the Italian Grand Prix, analysts hailed him as one of the drivers of the season so far with four points in seven races. That Monza win might have been a bit of a coincidence, but the big guys say you deserve your luck – and Gasly certainly had the positives in mind for the Italian race.

Of course, his success, coupled with Albon’s relative fighting at Red Bull, led to speculation that the senior team might possibly recall him. Gasly said when told this that he thought, “I’m ready,” although at this point it looks like the four-time world champions team would prefer to stay with Albon and keep Gasly with AlphaTauri.

READ MORE: Tost praises Gasly’s “fantastic” race – but Scotches speak of an imminent Red Bull return

Despite what has happened – and what may happen in the future – Gasly doesn’t feel guilty about Red Bull. Instead, he’s just grateful for everything they’ve done for him. “I’m a pretty honest guy, I say what I think and we don’t always share the same views or opinions,” Gasly said of Red Bull. “But I respect and am really grateful for what they did to me because I’m not someone who forgets things.

“I know the people who helped me get through. I know I won’t be where I am today without Red Bull. After what happened last year, it was a very different story for six months. I am sure that they will do things differently just as I will do certain things differently.

Gasly kicked off in 2020, but winning the Italian Grand Prix was one of the biggest F1 shocks of all time

“When I returned [to what was then Toro Rosso] I really wanted to do my best and do my best. I think it went even better than we all thought. So it was good. But it was important to me to show even after my first year at Toro Rosso, it was great when I was with them again, I performed.

“When I have what I need, I acted the same way. Relationships [with Red Bull] are still good, everything was good, only these six months were a different story. “

Right now, Gasly isn’t worried about the future – instead, he’s focused on getting the job done on the right track. In AlphaTauri, he has a car that can regularly score – but if he wants a better result, he has to take risks, like he and the team at Monza with an early pit stop that paved the way for the team’s second-always victory.

F1 Tracks: Listen to Pierre Gasly’s takeover playlist

And it seems like it is in Gasly’s nature to take risks, as the Frenchman likes to play roulette in a casino every now and then.

“I don’t play a lot because I don’t have a lot of time,” he says. “I do that maybe three or four times a year. If I went to a casino I’d play this and do a little blackjack with friends. There is a risk, but I know the money I play there is money I will lose. Even if I make more money than when I was young, I still play more or less the same money. “

Gasly has a penchant for roulette now and then

Does he think he is willing to take risks? “Um. In a way, yes, ”he says. “When I’m in control, I kind of like it. I know what’s happening because I’m in control. But when I feel like I’m out of control, like in helicopters or airplanes, I don’t like the risk that much because it doesn’t depend on myself – it depends on someone else. That’s a bit of a control freak in a way!

“I like risk, I’ve done skydiving, I like going fast, I just feel awake, the feeling of adrenaline inside you and it makes you feel things that you don’t feel in a more normal life, in quieter situations . “

WATCH: Gasly vs Kvyat in Grill the Grid

Downtime is clearly important to Gasly, it gives him the opportunity to forget Formula 1 and the day job so he can relax and refuel for another race weekend. Usually it’s a sporting activity with friends, including “lots of soccer”, a little golf – “I’m trying to improve my swing” – and things like bowling and paintball. And while it’s only with friends, that doesn’t mean they don’t all take winning seriously.

“I’m so competitive that some of them don’t want to play with me anymore,” he says. “All I do is either win or die! Sometimes they say we only play foosball, why do you have to be so competitive? I think i want to hit you!

“It’s a game for you, you know how I am doing, so make fun of it. And they try to ally against me. Your goal is to make me lose. They make arrangements to find ways to defeat me.

Gasly is highly competitive – soccer and skiing are just a few of his favorite ways to spend his precious days off

“Some of my friends are competitive too. They are athletes and when you play sports professionally a lot of other friends are in football and tennis, they are super competitive too. And if you put a lot of competing people in the same competition, you get a war, and then it gets pretty fun!

“It’s something I have to find every day, even with my coach, I tell him I have to have competition. I love it. For me, that will make me push myself to be at my limit in everything we do. I’m always looking for competition somewhere. “

READ MORE: Swap deal – drivers who changed teams in the middle of the season

As part of the Red Bull family, you’ll have the chance to try some random activities, from ax throwing to surfing with a world champion in waters known to be seen to shark. Gasly says yes to every opportunity, even if he doesn’t like it that much – for example, flying in a Red Bull acrobatic plane last year.

“I don’t like to fly,” he says. “So I really had to make an effort because I wouldn’t be doing this alone because I am not feeling well. But I like to get out of my comfort zone and say, ‘Okay, I’ll do it – people do, so challenge yourself. Even if you don’t like it ‘. I won’t do it every day, I checked the box. And I like to do that. “

Flying is not one of Gasly’s favorite activities …

The obvious question is – did he vomit on the plane? “I was so close,” he says with a laugh. “We are used to lateral and longitude Gs, but not vertical. You’re in front so you don’t see what the pilot is doing. He said, ‘You’re an F1 driver so you’re going to take it pretty well so I’m going to have to be pretty tough on you’ and I said, ‘No, just do it!’

“He then asked me how I was doing and when I said great, he pulled the stick to pull the plane up. You can’t foresee it. You are loose and suddenly 7.5 G comes towards you. Your whole body will be shattered and compressed. You can’t move or anything, my arms went down. I felt G-forces that I have never experienced in my life. It was a really strange feeling. But in the end I was happy, I had done something new and I knew how it was.

WATCH: Relive the thrilling finale of Gasly’s GP win in Italy in our Inside Tracks series

“So many GoPros were set up that I couldn’t throw up and film myself. Without GoPros I would have been sick. I felt it coming. “

That’s pretty sensational self-control. It’s this reckless insistence on dodging and challenging and not getting hit that got Gasly where he is today and not only helped him recover from a rejection that could have ended his career, but him Taken on a trajectory that earned him his first Grand Prix win and possibly a long and rewarding career in Formula 1.

French TV commentators are thrilled with Pierre Gasly’s Monza win