French Report: Gasly Shining, Ocon in the Points, Grosjean Disappointed

Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso): 4th

Pierre Gasly had an ideal weekend in Sakhir. On a circuit where engine power is essential, the Frenchman from Toro Rosso was certainly expecting to struggle with his Honda engine. That wasn’t the case, as he achieved superb qualifying results yesterday, securing the sixth fastest time in both Q2 and Q3. With Lewis Hamilton’s penalty, this placed the young Frenchman in 5th place, his best ranking in the category.

Initially, he was just behind the big sister team’s car, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. There was obviously a non-aggression pact with the Australian. However, that didn’t stop him from overtaking Ricciardo at the first corner by taking the outside line. Even though Daniel Ricciardo later used his power to reclaim his position, car number 10 regained control of 5th place when the Red Bull stopped at the side of the track with the engine off.

At the end of the safety car period, he had to face an attack from Kevin Magnussen, but the 2016 GP2 champion held his ground and vigorously defended his position, even forcing the Dane off the track, with the FIA stewards having nothing to say about it.

But the dream of the 1001 nights for the Faenza team would not be stopped so easily as Pierre Gasly then took advantage of Kimi Räikkönen’s troubles during his pit stop to seize fourth place. This position is the team’s best since Singapore last year with Carlos Sainz. Previously, one would have to go back to Austin 2015 for the team to celebrate such a performance.

At the checkered flag, the native of Rouen couldn’t help but shed a few tears during his discussion with his engineers, thanking them for their work which currently puts him with the same number of points as Daniel Ricciardo: « I still have trouble realizing what just happened. We would never have imagined being able to finish in the top 5. Already yesterday qualifying 6th was unimaginable, but today finishing 4th is even better! I don’t know what to say. Thanks to the team, the car was fantastic, it was fast, there was little tire degradation. I was able to push all the time. It’s just fantastic! »

Esteban Ocon (Sahara Force India): 10th

The years follow one another and are not the same for Sahara Force India and Esteban Ocon. Last year, the team had an exceptional season, finishing in fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship. But this year, scoring points is much more difficult, with a very tight midfield.

Thus, the Norman had to work hard throughout the race while starting from the eighth place on the grid. In contrast to his teammate Sergio Perez, who was hit by a faltering Brendon Hartley at the first corner, he managed to navigate through the obstacles at the start.

The team made the choice to adopt a two-stop strategy which saw him switch to soft tires for the last stint, chasing the cars ahead. This is how he managed to find an opening on Carlos Sainz’s Renault just two laps before the end: « It was a very difficult race and I never had a chance to catch my breath. I was pushing all the time, fighting all the time, chasing all the time. We are right in the middle of the pack and it was a nice reward to overtake Carlos two laps from the end and score the last point. »

He can therefore congratulate himself on having achieved his main objective, which was to dominate his teammate throughout the weekend. He will just wait for the competitiveness level of his car to improve in order to regain the positions he was accustomed to at the end of last season.

Romain Grosjean (Haas): 15th

New disappointment for Romain Grosjean at the end of the race, finishing in an anonymous 15th place while his teammate, Kevin Magnussen, ended up in a commendable 5th place. This was due to both a missed qualifying session with a 16th place on the grid, and a car that literally fell apart as the race progressed.

Thus his left side deflector first flew off in the middle of the straight line, before the flat-bottom support did the same a few laps later. Under these conditions, it was very difficult to maintain a satisfactory level of performance. Asked about a difficult race by our colleagues from Canal+, he stated: “We must not have watched the same race. I did my job. If the car hadn’t lost its aero, I should have finished 8th. We need to understand what happened.”

After the heartbreak in Melbourne, it’s another setback for the Haas driver, who still hasn’t scored any points despite having a car with serious potential.