Pierre Gasly: A French Boy with a Dream
- therookiereporters
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Pierre Gasly is probably one of the most underrated drivers on the Formula One grid today. Here is how everything started for the once little French boy.
How it Started:
Pierre Gasly was born on the 7th of February 1996 in Rouen, France. His racing interest began at a young age, with both his grandfather and grandmother being very successful karters back in the days and his father, Jean Jacques, was racing karts, endurance and Rally cars. In the beginning of his racing career, Pierre went from one French racing institution to another before a successful stint allowed him the opportunity to race in an open-wheel championship. He debuted in open-wheel with French F4 in 2011, his success going on to win him the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Championship a few seasons later in 2013. The following season, Pierre was promoted to Formula Renault 3.5 and finished the season as runner-up to his future F1 rival Carlos Sainz Jr.
F1 Career: A Rollercoaster
The Frenchman seemed to have a talent for being in the right place at the right time. With such an impressive 2018 performance on track for Toro Rosso and an impressive fourth-place finish in Bahrain, it was exciting to see what he could do with Red Bull in the 2019 season.
However, his partnership with Red Bull did not go as planned for either party when compared to his rival, Max Verstappen. Without being able to match Verstappen's results, Gasly was transferred back to Toro Rosso with Alexander Albon being promoted into his seat. This outcome was devastating for the driver, his family and his fans - all of whom can see his talent and potential that Red Bull failed to see.
But Pierre's career did not stop with the end of his Red Bull contract. He went on to score a large pool of points in the remainder of his season with Toro Rosso and achieved his best ever race result at the time of a P2 in Brazil. His success then followed him into 2020 when he finally claimed his maiden win at the rebranded AlphaTauri team’s home race in Italy. This was an emotional win, it being obvious how much it meant to Pierre. Off the back of this, his skill continued to grow into the 2021 season. On top of a podium that year, he also scored 110 of the team’s total 142 Constructor points.
By 2022, it was time for a change and Pierre signed a contract with the fellow French team Alpine. It was a move Gasly needed, giving him a new spark of aspiration and a chance of podiums and wins with Alpine being 4th in the Constructor Championship. In 2023, the team ended in 6th place in front of Williams with mediocre results and ended the following season in the same position, now in front of Haas. This still looked pretty promising for the team and they were positive for the future.
Unfortunately, the 2025 season has been far from good, with a lot of issues with the car. Doohan started the season as Pierre`s teammate but was replaced by Colapinto at the Imola Grand Prix. Still, Gasly has managed to pull the best out of the car and is the main provider of Alpine's current Constructor points. Regardless of his efforts, the team sits at the bottom of the table but with 10 races left on the calendar, there is still hope for a positive outcome.
For me, who considers Pierre as one of their favorite drivers, it is hard to see how much he struggles with this year's car. I hope Alpine will be able to nail development for next season and be able to give their drivers a truly competitive car which can allow Pierre’s talent to shine, particularly in wet conditions. It’s not hard to stay hopeful when Pierre’s commitment and passion for the sport is still so prevalent, with him being fully focused on doing the best he can
Article written by Ingrid Amdahl
