AlphaTauri’s F1 talent Pierre Gasly discusses a column of his in ‘The Player’s Tribune,’ describing his motivation for writing it and more.
Within his column, the Frenchman wrote on his demotion from Red Bull midway through 2019, also describing how the passing of long-time friend Anthoine Hubert ‘flipped [his world] upside down’. Gasly discussed overcoming both of these setbacks in 2020, to find greater success than he had in any prior season.
The AlphaTauri driver explains he looked to express himself in a manner ‘easier’ than speaking publicly, and says that writing the peace took a ‘weight off [his] shoulders’, even though writing the column was difficult, Gasly admits. “It was obviously not easy talking about these things I will not say it is the most pleasant moment of my life,” he said in the press conference.
“But that’s what I believe that you always have challenges in life, whatever you do, is not only myself. Everybody can relate to that, whatever they do, and it’s important to face them. And I think that’s also what shapes you as a person, as a driver, as a human, whatever. And this period of my life really shaped me in who I am today.
“I never gave up I always had a clear idea of what I want and what I want to achieve in this sport. And it probably helped me in the end. So that’s the good thing out of it. I feel better now. And yeah, that’s a way I wanted to express myself. I don’t want to go into more details. I think I’ve done most of the things and the things I wanted to share about that story,” Gasly said.
The one-time F1 race winner says he consulted with other athletes, Hubert’s family, and AlphaTauri team members when writing the piece in the off-season, before it was released prior to the season start.
“I got a lot of feedback from many people, other athletes, journalists, fans, also from Anthoine’s family,” said Gasly. “That’s just what I felt and the way I wanted to express myself and at the end of the day, we’re all humans, I think sometimes it’s a bit forgotten in the sport. And it’s good to remind it.
“I did it in the offseason. So it came out now. It was something that I discussed with people from my team. And it’s obvious these things that we discussed a lot in private, and then certain things that I think and I feel and sometimes can be misunderstood from the outside world.
“And there were a lot of things that I wanted to share. I think everything that I’ve shared was quite fair. And also the emotions that I’ve shared were mine. And sometimes it’s just easier to say things writing than talking, you know. And that was important to me now at least I feel that and I’ve closed the chapter and I feel personally good to move forward and move on from that chapter. And it’s so closed page for me,” Gasly said.
Here’s the full blog: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/pierre-gasly-formula-one-racing
Here’s what happened in F1 Bahrain GP qualifying