Gasly and Monza: a special feeling
The last weekend of Monza gave endless emotions to Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who managed to win the home GP starting from the back and ending the long wait for Italian drivers winning in their own country that lasted 60 years. But even before, in qualifying, to complete a performance worthy of applause and at the same time unexpected was Pierre Gasly, even author of the pole position.
The Frenchman, who also at Monza had won his first F1 victory in 2020, set his first best qualifying time in the Circus, then trying to defend the race lead. A mission concretely difficult to achieve, as demonstrated by the dominance of the Mercedes and their one-two, but the 7th place finish does not disappoint the Frenchman at all, who leaves Monza with great satisfaction: “It was an incredible weekend. To be honest, we can all be very happy with what we achieved and finishing seventh today, the best of the rest, at the top of the mid-field group, is really a great result. Of course, we wanted more, but we also have to be realistic and today’s result is probably the best we could get with what we have at the moment. So, in the end, I am happy. After yesterday (Saturday) we all dreamed, but today we came back to reality! I made two good starts and led for a lap, so that was what we wanted at the beginning. After that, the others caught me and I fought with Norris, who won the last two races, and in the end I finished three seconds behind Lewis [Hamilton], who has also been very strong recently. There are many positive aspects to take away and many memories from this weekend, which I will keep for a long time. We will do a debrief as a team, take the points, which are very valuable for our championship fight, and focus on a new track in Madrid next weekend.”
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Colapinto’s apologies
Alpine that can fly to Madrid, the venue of the next appointment, aware of the double points finish of its drivers thanks to the 9th place of Colapinto, who finished in the top 10 despite a scare at the first Lesmo: “After a race like today, with all the emotions and the position we were in, it is hard not to be frustrated. I am disappointed with myself, because we could have done much better and for this I apologize to the team. We made a good start, gaining positions and even reaching fourth place at the restart after the red flag. As a driver, when you fight for these positions, it gives you an extra charge and motivation and you want more, and you don’t want to lose them. I was closely following Verstappen and lost control in turn 6, ending up in the gravel. Fortunately, we avoided the barriers, but the car behaved differently afterwards, so we probably caused some damage to the floor. After that, I tried to regain concentration and score points for the team. I am disappointed with myself right now, but after some time to reflect, I hope I can consider it a good recovery.”
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