Pierre Gasly Furious After Losing P6 Because of Lance Stroll : “Always the Same F***ing Story With Him”

Published 12/01/2019, 4:11 PM EST

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Pierre Gasly knew that the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2019 was a crucial race for him in the championship. The French driver was battling Carlos Sainz for 6th in the championship ahead of the race. Unfortunately, an opening lap collision with Lance Stroll cost him dearly.

Since the two were level on 95 points, heading into the final race a points finish would have been ideal. However, Gasly’s tangle with Stroll on the first lap ensured that he was never in contention for the top 10.

Meanwhile, in the McLaren camp, Sainz was in 11th on the final lap but hunting down Nico Hulkenberg. He overtook his former teammate at turn 11 to claim tenth and the final point, moving him ahead of Gasly in the final standings.

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As soon as he crossed the finish line, Gasly wanted to know the whereabouts of Sainz as well as Alex Albon, who could have leapfrogged them, had he taken fifth place.

“Where is Albon? Where is Sainz?,” asked Gasly.

“I’m afraid Sainz got P10 in that lap,” his engineer replied. “He was P11. He got P10 that lap. Albon is P6.”

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“Are you kidding me?” Gasly answered. “We should have been right there if not for fucking Stroll, it’s always the same story with him.”

Speaking to RaceFans after the race Gasly said: “I’m just pissed off because I didn’t take the fight to Carlos and we clearly had the car and the pace to do it.

“We had a good advantage starting in P11 on the grid, Daniil [Kvyat] was two places behind and he finished ninth. I wasn’t really looking at Alex but more Carlos to finish ahead of him. Today we had the opportunity and from what I could see so far Lance just ruined everything.”

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Now, all that Pierre Gasly can do is forget about the 2019 season and focus on the upcoming season with Alpha Tauri.

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Written by:

Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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