Pierre Gasly, a podium in the sprint race “almost at home” with Alpine
Pierre Gasly finishes third in the sprint race of the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. He benefited from an early pit stop to switch to intermediate tires in order to climb up the ranks and maintain the advantage of this strategy until the end of the shortened 6-lap sprint race.
The sprint race of the Belgian Grand Prix took place in wet conditions. Shortened by 6 laps under the safety car, the race only lasted 11 laps. Pierre Gasly came in as early as the first lap to switch to intermediate tires and despite exiting the pit lane amidst the other cars, he managed to emerge from the first two laps in P3. The Alpine driver held onto his position, first battling Perez and then Hamilton.
« It’s really amazing. It feels really great to finish in the top 3, it’s kind of like a home Grand Prix for us, since we don’t have any more French Grand Prix. The conditions were very challenging, I am very, very happy. We made the right pit stop and were able to keep Lewis behind until the end. » explains the French.
Pierre Gasly wanted to pay tribute to Anthoine Hubert, who passed away on this track in 2019. « I have a big thought for Anthoine [Hubert] and I am very happy for the whole team. »
« This is not the best start to the season, but we have everything in the right order here. I gave it my all to compete against Lewis Hamilton. I saw him getting closer behind me, but I focused on my driving to do the best laps one after another, and I could see my tires graining more and more, but it paid off. I gave it my all. I am super happy for the entire team and I hope we will do just as well tomorrow. »
Otmar Szafnauer, who was fired from the Alpine F1 team on Friday, also reacted to Canal+ microphone: “« He did an incredible job today. We were a bit worried after Lewis Hamilton was able to overtake Sergio Perez because they have a more powerful engine, and I was a bit worried, but Pierre was fantastic. He was talking about the lack of visibility in front of him and he had two cars ahead, so he drove exceptionally.” » explains the director of Alpine F1 until Sunday.
There were so many cars in the pit lane, but it worked out. We absolutely wanted to make the stop, we made a very good stop and he came out respectfully in the pit lane, allowing us to come out in front of everyone.
Bruno Famin, the new director of Alpine, replacing Laurent Rossi, also wanted to congratulate his drivers. « We can really congratulate Pierre and also Esteban, because the conditions were very difficult. »
