How Lewis Hamilton Helped Pierre Gasly Execute His Italian GP Pole

Pierre Gasly put his Alpine on pole out of nowhere in F1 Italian GP against the expectations, as George Russell looked favourite to start the session.

The F1 Italian GP weekend started on a sour note for Gasly after the FIA International Court of Appeal ruling, which took his Monaco GP podium and handed it back to Red Bull's Isack Hadjar. He was classified seventh eventually, as Alpine's Flavio Briatore unleashed in press conference .

Gasly sat out of FP1 for Paul Aron, to complete his mandated rookie session. But the Estonian did not disappoint to line-up 10th behind teammate Franco Colapinto. The Frenchman returned in FP2 to finish 14th after a time of 1m23.773s, while Colapinto was steady in 11th.

They felt reasonable after Friday, with the aim of a double Top 10 in qualifying in their usual position around P8-P10. The FP3 on Saturday did that for them after Gasly ended up ninth with a time of 1m22.898s, with Colapinto just behind him – both inside the Top 10.

Even then, there was no real pin on Alpine to do what they did by the end of F1 Italian GP qualifying. Even after Q1 when Gasly ended up P1 with a time of 1m22.612s, not many put him in the pole fight. He was up on Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 0.012s, while Colapinto was only 0.050s away.

The pace was unrelenting from Alpine and things started to get serious in Q2 when Gasly (1m22.077s) was fourth and Colapinto (1m22.400s) eighth. They managed to out-qualify both Ferrari cars in that session and were in the mix with Mercedes and McLaren at that stage.

While everyone was busy with tow and getting it right by playing games, Alpine went to their business without expecting pole. They were thinking to secure eighth and ninth at the very least ahead of Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad, after the second Red Bull of Liam Lawson was knocked out in Q2.

In Q3, Gasly was asked to stay behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri ahead on track. He put in a 1m22.001s to end up third after the first run. Despite being in the Top 3, the Frenchman complained that he lost a lot of time in Parabolica on the radio, meaning he had more time at hand.

The team said it could be due to deployment but it was nothing to worry about with the Top 3 at that juncture still a solid return. Gasly double checked on the radio if his upshift was right along with everything else and got a positive response from his race engineer.

The Frenchman was behind Russell and Piastri in the order after the first run in a close fight. For the second run, Gasly was behind Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. It was a distant tow but the Frenchman made it with a 1m21.786s lap, enough to beat Russell by 0.060s margin.

Pierre Gasly's Radio Messages After Pole Confirmation

It was clear for Gasly that he got pole . No sooner that he crossed the line, Gasly asked his race engineer, "Come on, tell me?" And the response was what he wanted to hear, "That is pole"! It erupted with "what" all around, with celebrations from the mechanics echoed on the radio.

"Lets go!", continued Gasly, adding, "Been waiting for that one, nine years. F**k yes"! His race engineer applauded his effort, as the Frenchman continued his celebration. "Amazing, thank you everyone, very well managed. That was good. (inaudible) start, but I knew. Ooooh, nice, nice, nice, nice."

Teammate Colapinto was eighth with 1m22.220s. Crucially, he managed to beat McLaren's Lando Norris and constructors' rival Lindblad. For Gasly, it was a moment to cherish. He scored his first F1 win at Monza in difficult circumstances in 2020 with AlphaTauri. He has been waiting for 10 years since his debut to secure pole, with Abu Dhabi 2016 being his last in GP2 Series.

Interestingly, he scored a pole at Monza that year as well, when he secured the GP2 title with Prema Racing. Having had an F1 win, Gasly wanted to tick the pole box which he has finally achieved with Alpine. Naturally, there was lot of jubilation and relief. He is just grateful to have achieved the feat finally, especially with the French team at the receiving end of disappoint with lost podium.

He explained how the thought of F1 pole became real when he completed the first lap in Q3. The Alpine driver didn't think there was an inch that he left on track by the end of it. He put it down to perfect execution, even though the car didn't have that legs to secure pole unlike the top teams ahead. The update package from Zandvoort certainly helped, as he hopes to stick on, on Sunday.

Pierre Gasly's Reaction to His Incredible Pole Performance:

Gasly: "Yeah, I mean, I think… Quite a lot of emotions. No, I'm just extremely happy for the whole team. I'm extremely happy with our performance. It's been nine years I'm in Formula 1, trying to, you know, give my best absolutely every single weekend and it's not every time we get a car to fight for pole position. Today it was the case and, yeah, I'm really, really happy, really proud to have seized this chance and to make it work. It was a heck of a lap. We've been on it since the first lap in Q1, it's been feeling good. And, yeah, nine years waiting for that moment, that feeling. I got my first win here in Monza and now I get my first pole position, so definitely a special place to me.

"Today I was very lucky and I'm super grateful to have had the car that I had and gave me the chance. But, yeah, when I passed the line, honestly, it was the same as last time. I just shouted, I have no idea what I said, but I probably made absolutely no sense, I just screamed on the radio and just pure happiness, a lot of emotions, and extremely happy for my team. I mean, it's not my first race in F1.

"It's too many and I don't remember all of them. I don't know. It's definitely one of these laps that I'll put up there. I'm just happy, man. I'm just happy for the team and also, you know, the whole weekend, a lot of emotions, everything going on, etc. So just trying to stick at doing my job the best I can and that's what we did today. So very, very pleased and very proud of my team here."

Gasly: "It's been a long time. It's been a long time since I did a pole position. So, yeah, probably, I don't know, if you're Formula 2. So, yeah, Formula One is quite tough because you work as hard as you can to try to put your best performance out there and as I said, in nine years I was never really in a position to get a shot at it. I think the closest I got was in Qatar some years ago, but never really had the car that allowed me to fight up there.

"And today I think, to be fair, was probably the first time. And it's just such a nice feeling knowing that you are in the mix. All these last few hundredths you're going to squeeze out of that last lap potentially are going to be rewarded, because sometimes one of those laps, you know, will barely get us to Q3."

Gasly: "No, yeah, definitely not. I mean, Monza is a bit of a unique track. We know it, but, I mean, no, it definitely exceeded all our expectations. But since this morning, I think the pace has been better. We managed to make a good step, you know, from P3 to quali, and I think slightly bigger than the other guys around us. Yeah, straight from Q1, you know, we were a bit surprised to see us up there, as in mind, you know, our target was Q3. But then I think I was P1 in Q1, then P4 in Q2. I didn't want to get too excited, but then first run in Q3, I think I was third again and then I felt, "Okay, I really have a shot at it."

"And as I said, it's probably the first time I really get a true chance and, yeah, I tried to leave everything I had out there. It was quite hectic through Ascari and Parabolica. I don't think there was definitely much in there and, crossing the line, I knew it would be one of these laps that would be rewarded, but to the point to get the pole position, I didn't expect that. So, yeah, very, very pleased."

Gasly: "No, actually, I mean, didn't drive in P1. Yesterday in P2, things felt decent but for top 10. I think we made a few tweaks for P3, which again gave me a bit more confidence, and in practice I've never really had any tows. We knew that there was a bit more on the table in the practice sessions and then I think it was a very good execution from the team, you know, always putting me in a great position on track, managing the gap as best we could, really. So, I think my last lap, managed to target, slightly over 2.5 seconds behind Lewis when he was going to be fast and sort of, like, drag me with him.

"So, I think it was perfect execution. The car balance is probably one of the best I've had so far this year, really. Again, gave me the confidence to, you know, attack all these corners and sliding around and playing around with the car, and we managed to make it work in that last run when everything mattered. So, I think it's not down to, obviously, one simple parameter. I think everybody did a very good job and we've been rewarded for it."

Gasly: "Absolutely not. Yeah, I mean, the package brought us a lot of performance already in Zandvoort. We saw we were a lot more competitive and I think it's also, like, sort of giving me a little bit more what I need inside the car in terms of pushing my entries, being able to come into the corner, having a bit more consistent feeling with the car. No, the package definitely brought us good performance. Again, never imagined that we'd be in that position following Zandvoort."

Gasly: "I mean, I don't think I can say much about this and all I can say is it's not a nice situation, not ideal. Obviously, I try to use everything I can into something positive and, you know, extra motivation, but I think I could have dealt without it this weekend. Yeah, that's all I'll say."

Gasly: "I mean, it's going to be obviously great. I'm in the best position, right? I'm starting first, got no one ahead of me. I just got to focus on my driving and I know what it looks like having no one around this track, so that's a good advantage and probably the best place to do it. But then, yeah, it's going to be a long race. I think our— and I feel I actually felt quite good. Obviously not to the pace of these guys around us, but we seem to have picked up more pace from yesterday to today. So, you know, we'll obviously give our best shot and see what we can get out of it. But, yeah, I'm excited.

"That's a very good question. My plan is to stay first as long as I can. How long is that going to be? I have no idea. And my focus is going to be on my driving and making no mistakes and making the best out of what I have. So, I'm obviously really hoping we can stick, you know, to that position, but as we know, it's racing. Time will tell us and I'm just going to make sure I do my work as I always do, and Saturday night I come as prepared as I can tomorrow and give it my best chance."