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Pierre Gasly says writing a detailed account of being demoted by Red Bull then suffering the loss of Anthoine Hubert in August 2019 has taken “a weight off my shoulders”.
Gasly lost his Red Bull Formula 1 drive after a difficult first half of the 2019 season, and on his first weekend back at Toro Rosso at the Belgian Grand Prix his best friend Hubert died in a Formula 2 support race.
Since returning to Toro Rosso, now known as AlphaTauri, Gasly has quickly rebuilt his reputation. He scored his first podium finish in the Brazilian Grand Prix, his eighth race after being dropped by Red Bull, and earned a shock Italian Grand Prix win during a stellar 2020 season.
Earlier this week the Players’ Tribune published an article by Gasly detailing the struggles he went through in 2019, referring to Hubert’s death as “the day my old life ended, and a new one began” and stating he felt such a lack of support from Red Bull that “it was just never going to work”.
Asked by The Race ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix how difficult it was to revisit that period in such detail, and whether he found the process cathartic, Gasly said: “Sometimes things are easier to write than to say.
“There are certain things I wanted to share, and it just kind of feels good, a weight off my shoulders.
“It was obviously not easy, talking about the things.
“I will not say it was a really pleasant moment of my life, but I believe you always have challenges in life whatever you do. It’s not only myself, everybody can relate to that.
“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 I think this period of my life really shaped me into who I am today.
“Even though it was tough 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. That’s the way I wanted to express myself.
“I don’t want to go into more details. I think I’ve done most of the things I wanted to share about that story.”
Gasly’s article included a powerful, emotive recollection of the moment he learned Hubert had died.
He also refers to the 2020 Belgian Grand Prix one year after Hubert’s death as a moment in which Gasly “found a piece of myself” and could “see again”, describing the intervening 12 months as a period where he felt like he was living with his “visor down”.
But it also underlines the frustration he has evidently felt at times towards Red Bull, which seemed to be more of the focus of the second part of his answer on Thursday.
The references to never giving up, knowing what he wanted to achieve, and the unspecified “it” probably helping him in the end are more likely references to the Red Bull side of the story.
Gasly was unhappy last year to have been frozen out by Red Bull as it weighed up its 2021 driver line-up, as while he was starring at AlphaTauri his replacement at Red Bull Racing – Alex Albon – was struggling.
Albon eventually lost his drive to Sergio Perez, but Gasly was ruled out of contention long before and kept at AlphaTauri for another season.
Gasly now starts the 2021 season as a clear team leader at AlphaTauri. But while it would be understandable for him to wish to avoid discussing Hubert’s passing any more than he already has, there appears to be an underlying tension with Red Bull that’s yet to be resolved.
