Pierre Gasly secured at Monza the first pole position of his Formula 1 career. A moment awaited for nine years and achieved on a very special circuit for him.
Pierre Gasly waited nine years and 191 attempts to experience this moment. Author of a spectacular pole position during the qualifications of the Italian Grand Prix, the Frenchman will start for the first time in his career from the first place on a Formula 1 grid.
The symbol is all the stronger because this first pole comes at Monza, the very place where Gasly had secured in 2020 the first and so far only victory of his career.
Already fastest in Q1, the Alpine driver confirmed his speed until the final attempt of Q3 to create one of the biggest surprises of the season.
“It was incredible”
Gasly quickly realized that he had a particularly competitive car on Saturday. From the first laps of Q1, the Frenchman felt confident enough to progressively push the limits.
“It was incredible. The qualifying was exceptional from the very first lap in Q1,” he rejoices.
Rather than immediately trying to extract all the potential of his Alpine, Gasly progressively built his performance throughout the three parts of the session.
“I really felt very good in the car and I was trying to gain a little bit in each session. Then, at the end, I felt like I had done a very good lap.”
An approach that allowed him to set a 1’21″786 on his final attempt and claim pole ahead of George Russell.
Nine years of waiting for Gasly
Since his debut in Formula 1 in 2017, Gasly had never managed to secure a pole position. It finally took him 191 attempts to achieve it.
A particularly long wait that the Frenchman did not fail to recall a few moments after getting out of his single-seater.
“I am so happy. I have been trying for nine years to pursue this opportunity to get a pole position.”
Gasly thus becomes the 109th different driver to sign a pole in the history of Formula 1. He is also the first new poleman since Kimi Antonelli, who had joined this list in China earlier this season.
But this performance goes far beyond the personal scope as it also constitutes a historic first for Alpine.
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A historic first for Alpine
Never since the arrival of the Alpine brand in Formula 1, in 2021, had the French team secured the pole position of a Grand Prix.
One must even go much further back in the history of the Enstone-based structure to find such a performance. The last pole for the team dated back to the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, when Fernando Alonso had placed his Renault at the top of qualifying.
Seventeen years later, Gasly thus allows Enstone to finally regain the first position on a starting grid.
This pole takes on even more significance given the competition faced at Monza. Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull all seemed to have the necessary weapons to aim for first place, but it was ultimately Alpine that created the surprise.
Monza, definitely special for Gasly
It is also hard to ignore the special bond that unites Gasly to the Temple of Speed.
It was on this circuit that the Frenchman had signed the greatest achievement of his career by winning the 2020 Italian Grand Prix at the wheel of his AlphaTauri. Six years later, he now secures his very first pole position there.
“Winning my first race at Monza and now getting my first pole position on this circuit, I think there is something special here,” he acknowledges.
The Frenchman also becomes the first French driver to secure a pole position in Formula 1 since Jean Alesi, also at Monza, during the 1997 Italian Grand Prix.
Nearly three decades thus separate the two French performances.
A new chance to make history on Sunday
Gasly will now have the opportunity to turn this unexpected pole into a major result during the race.
His 2020 experience reminds him that anything can happen at Monza, but the challenge will be considerable against cars that have shown a particularly strong pace throughout the weekend.
For Alpine, this pole already constitutes a historic performance. For Gasly, it represents above all the culmination of a wait that began nine years earlier.
After securing his first victory at Monza in 2020, Pierre Gasly thus signs six years later the first pole position of his career there. The Frenchman seems to have a very special relationship with the Italian circuit.
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