Successful start for Pierre Gasly with Toro Rosso
Pierre Gasly finished the first race of his Formula 1 career by securing 14th place at the Malaysian Grand Prix. His teammate Carlos Sainz, who was in the points for a long time, unfortunately had to retire.
For his first weekend in Formula 1, Pierre Gasly did not score any points in the championship but succeeded in making a strong impression within Toro Rosso.
The two Italian-Austrian single-seaters were never really in the rhythm at Sepang, under these conditions, the French driver did his best to avoid all the race’s pitfalls and bring his car to the finish, in an honorable 14th place: « It was a special race for me, as it was my first Formula 1 race, a day I will never forget! It was really a good experience, I would say even better than I expected. I tried to do my best and pushed as hard as possible! »
Despite difficult race conditions and a failure of his drink system, Gasly made no mistake: « It was a really physical and tough race because my drink system was not working properly, the water was going on my face and not in my mouth! So I felt like it was a really long race… But with such a big rush of adrenaline, I managed to stay focused until the end. I was very close to Magnussen for the entire race, but it was quite difficult to close the gap. I think I also need a bit more experience with tire management because I struggled at the end of the race, and I also think I didn’t manage the blue flags perfectly, I lost a bit of time. But that will come with a bit more practice, I’m sure! » said the happy Frenchman after the race.
Best Sunday I ever had in the last 21 years. #MalaysianGP pic.twitter.com/KyXDqNJsNq
— Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 (@PierreGASLY) 1 octobre 2017
On his side, Carlos Sainz had a solid race in the points zone before retiring late in the race, possibly due to his incident with Esteban Ocon: « It was a very positive day for us overall, aside from my retirement. I think we were having a very good race and showed better pace than yesterday during qualifying. We were good for the points today, but unfortunately, in the end, we had to retire due to an electrical problem. » stated the Spaniard.
