Pierre Gasly reveals that the last few laps was like something was stabbing him after facing health issues related to intestine in F1 Saudi Arabian GP.
The tough run for AlphaTauri continued in F1 Saudi Arabian GP which started with a retirement for Yuki Tsunoda even before the race started. The Japanese racer faced a driveline issue on his reconnaissance lap, which forced him to shut shop.
At the start, Gasly lost out to not only Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, but he also lost to McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to be outside of points. To add to his misery, he lost further ground with the safety car after his pit stop.
He was in a similar boat as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, as then he had to climb back up the lost places. Some late retirements helped Gasly make it back in the Top 10 where he finished eighth and scored his first points of the 2022 F1 season.
But he couldn’t challenge the fighting duo of Norris and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Post-race, Gasly revealed of health issues during the latter part of the race which was related to his intestine. He saw the doctor before doing his media duties.
“I’m really happy with how today went and glad I’m coming away with points. We got really unlucky with the safety car, as we boxed around 30 seconds before it came out and so dropped down the field, which wasn’t ideal,” said Gasly. “We managed to make our way back up though to P8, so really pleased with that.
“The last 15 laps, I have never had that much pain. I don’t know what happened in my intestine. The last 10 laps was like getting stabbed every left corner. That was the most painful laps I had, so I don’t know what happened. I saw the doctor already, we’ll see after the media work, I don’t know what it is but it was not a not a nice feeling.
“It was more like surviving rather than anything else but I don’t know, we’ll we’ll see what’s happened. In general, I’m feeling good in the car though, I’m able to push the way I want to, but I think we need to just find some more downforce. We know the areas we need to improve so we just need to go away and find the solutions now,” summed up Gasly.
The four points was crucial considering Gasly didn’t score in Bahrain where Tsunoda only managed two. AlphaTauri technical chief Jody Egginton noted that his health issue cost him performance. “Pierre’s race was also not straight forward, with the timing of the safety car costing us track position, but fortunately a subsequent VSC provided an opportunity to get back on terms, allowing us to finish in eight place,” he said.
“In addition to these challenges, Pierre has also reported not feeling well in the last laps of the race, which has impacted his performance, but he dug deep and kept the Haas behind in difficult circumstances, so we are thankful for that. We leave here with mixed emotions; on the one hand we have scored points, but on the other hand there is for sure more to extract from the package.”
Here’s how F1 Saudi Arabian GP panned out