Biography of F1 driver Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly was seemingly always destined for a career in motorsports given his family’s history.

Born to Jean Jacques Gasly and mother Pascale, his grandfather competed in karting, something that he passed on to Pierre’s father. Jean Jacques took part in karting, endurance racing and rallying.

His first experiences with karting came at the local Anneville-Ambourville track. He grew up with the late Anthoine Hubert, who competed with Gasly from the age of seven, and the pair attended the same private school together.

Here is everything you need to know about Pierre Gasly.

Gasly’s early career

Gasly began competitive karting at the age of 10 in 2006, finishing 15th in the French Minime Championship and then fourth the following year. He made the move up to the international scene in 2009, finishing as the runner-up in the CIK-FIA European Championship at the end of 2010.

In 2011, the Frenchman moved to single-seaters, taking part in the French F4 Championship and then moving on to the Formula Renault Eurocup. Initially racing for R-ace GP, Gasly joined Tech 1 Racing in 2013 and won the championship after getting the better of Oliver Rowland in the championship fight.

Gasly moved to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2014, racing for Arden under the Red Bull Junior Team development program. He finished the season runner up to fellow Red Bull Junior Carlos Sainz.

Gasly made his GP2 Series debut in 2014 at Monza, replacing Tom Dillmann at Caterham Racing. He then joined DAMS and finished his first season eighth in the standings. After switching to Prema in 2016, where he partnered Antonio Giovinazzi, Gasly took the GP2 Series title that season.

Although it was only a brief stint, Gasly also raced in Formula E. The Frenchman replaced Sebastian Buemi for the 2017 New York ePrix due his compatriot’s commitments at the World Endurance Championship.

Gasly finished the opening race seventh after qualifying 19th, and he just missed out on a podium spot in the second race, hitting the wall of the final corner before limping over the line in fourth.

Formula 1 breakthrough

Gasly was named as reserve driver for Red Bull in September 2015, but he made his Formula 1 debut for sister team Toro Rosso at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, replacing Daniil Kvyat for a few races. He returned for the team in Mexico, partnering Brendon Hartley after the squad decided to drop Kvyat from the programme.

The Frenchman and Hartley were made the full-time driver pairing for the 2018 season. After failing to finish in Australia, Gasly qualified sixth in Bahrain but was promoted to fifth after Lewis Hamilton was handed a penalty. Gasly scored his first F1 points in the race, crossing the line fourth.

That joy was short-lived as Gasly crashed into Hartley at the following race in China in what the two called a “miscommunication”. The Frenchman scored more points in Monaco, Hungary, Belgium and Mexico, ending the season with 29 points, a full 25 clear of Hartley.

Short-lived move to Red Bull

With Daniel Ricciardo moving to Renault, Gasly was promoted to the second Red Bull seat to partner Max Verstappen in 2019. The move proved difficult for the youngster, as he was consistently slower than his Dutch teammate and was even lapped at several races.

Gasly only managed to outqualify Verstappen in Canada, though that was in part due to a red flag. His best finish for the team came at the British Grand Prix, ending fourth after Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel were involved in a collision in front of him.

Team principal Christian Horner insisted Gasly would continue with the team for the remainder of the season, however he found himself down in sixth in the championship with 63 points. Meanwhile, Verstappen sat at 181 points with two wins and five podiums.

As a result, a change was made prior to the Belgian Grand Prix, with Gasly sent back to Toro Rosso and Alexander Albon making the move the other way.

The change seemed to revitalise Gasly, who went on to finish in the points five times. His best result came at the Brazilian Grand Prix when, after qualifying in seventh, he kept his nose clean in what was a chaotic race to finish second, keeping Lewis Hamilton at bay down the main straight on the last lap. It was his first podium finish and Toro Rosso’s best result since the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.

Gasly finished the season seventh in the championship with 95 points.

Toro Rosso becomes AlphaTauri

Gasly remained with the team in 2020, however this time it was Toro Rosso that underwent a major change as the team rebranded and became AlphaTauri.

Partnered by Daniil Kvyat, the Frenchman secured four top 10 finishes over the course of the first seven races of the season. His best result over that time was a seventh place finish both in Austria and Silverstone.

The big talking point came at the Italian Grand Prix. Gasly started down in 10th, but an early pit-stop helped him to pass several drivers who had to wait for the pitlane to open during the Safety Car procedure. As a result, the Frenchman found himself in third.

However, he eventually moved up to first after Hamilton pitted for a stop-go penalty and Lance Stroll ran wide at the Roggia chicane.

A late charge from McLaren’s Carlos Sainz wasn’t enough to stop Gasly from taking his first F1 win in remarkable circumstances, becoming the 109th different winner and the first French driver to take the chequered flag since Olivier Panis back in 1996.

The result prompted speculation that Gasly might return to Red Bull, but the move never happened. Gasly finished the season in 10th place with 75 points.

Stepping up again in 2021

Gasly was joined by a new teammate at AlphaTauri in 2021 in the form of rookie Yuki Tsunoda. As such, the Frenchman took the role of team leader.

After putting in a strong performance in qualifying to line up fifth for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Gasly suffered damage in the race following contact with Daniel Ricciardo, and was forced to retire.

A steady run of points finishes followed over the next few events before Gasly secured his third career podium result at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, ending the eventful race in P3 behind Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel. Impressively, Gasly achieved this despite suffering with an engine problem.

In the same month, Gasly scored points at his home event, the French Grand Prix. By August, the AlphaTauri driver was hailing 2021 as his best ever start to a season since arriving in Formula 1.

The year was not entirely smooth sailing, with a crash putting Gasly out of the Sprint race during the Italian Grand Prix weekend, and he then recorded a DNF in Sunday’s race.

Otherwise, Gasly continued to score points at most of the remaining races of the 2021 season, and ended the year with 110 points, putting him P9 in the World Championship.

He also scored the bulk of AlphaTauri’s 142 points, which landed them sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Aiming to be the “best ever” Gasly in 2022

Despite having such a strong season in 2021, Gasly admitted to feeling “disappointed” about being overlooked for the second Red Bull seat for 2022.

However, the Frenchman has high hopes for what AlphaTauri can achieve following the introduction of new regulations into the sport, and has vowed to be “the best Pierre Gasly ever in Formula 1”.

Gasly will again be joined by Tsunoda in an unchanged line-up.