Pierre Gasly praises the support from the F1 fans but reckons there needs to be some control considering how many made it in the Monza paddock.
The topic of fan intrusion in F1 paddock is not new as it was raised last year after the Mexico GP where it could be seen on TV as well. The paddock is a very secluded place where only limited number of fans can make it in.
The VIPs do make it in being guests of teams and or the sport, sometimes the F1 teams too hold contests or reward few fans with a once in a lifetime opportunity. The rest come from Paddock Club, who pay a good amount to be housed in viewing areas.
But certain races have seen insane amount of fans inside the F1 paddock who jump on any chance to meet their favourite drivers and or teams. Similar scenes could be seen in Monza too post the Italian GP which pushed Alpine’s Gasly to raise the topic.
He is fine to have fans in the paddock but he felt it was a bit too much considering they were knocking on the hospitality doors to meet. This is why he hopes there needs to be some kind of restriction to not fill the paddock with fans who can be intrusive.
“I mean, I love fans, and I love to give, always, you know, stop by and give some time,” said Gasly to media. “But then it’s obviously, it’s our work environment, and sometimes a bit tricky to get around and make sure that we are on time for the commitments that we got because it’s minute by minute, and it’s clearly one of the busiest pitlane.
“It’s very enjoyable. But sometimes it’s even people like knocking at the door inside the hospitality, you wonder how they got there. So it needs to be… needs to be, yeah, kind of… give the space we need to work properly,” summed up Gasly, who was jokingly backed by Williams’ Alexander Albon as well.
The Thai racer was surprised by the number of fans in Monza and joked about a secret door which let them in. “Even in this paddock, we don’t really get this elsewhere [the amount of fans],” he said. “I think there must be a secret door where people are coming through because I don’t know how this paddock is so busy.”
Here’s James Vowles on Williams’ focus
Here’s Alexander Albon, Lando Norris on their incident
Here’s Alpine and Qatar Airways deal
Here’s Alpine pair on bad Monza weekend
Here’s George Russell on contact with Esteban Ocon