“Race winning season my best in F1, Honda did fantastic job” - Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly says his race-winning 2020 Formula 1 campaign comfortably ranks as his strongest yet in a year that saw him emerge as a regular point-scorer for AlphaTauri.

A redeeming season for the Frenchman after his switch to Red Bull Racing at the start of 2019 ended with him being demoted back to the team’s B-outfit (formelry Scuderia Toro Rosso) midway through the year, Gasly bounced right back with an excellent 2020 campaign.

Beyond his stellar maiden shock F1 win in the Italian Grand Prix - the second achieved by the team some 12 years after its first at the same Monza circuit - Gasly also emerged as a regular top ten finisher, ending up 10th in the standings amid speculation he could be promoted back to Red Bull Racing.

Nonetheless, Gasly will stay with AlphaTauri alongside new team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, with Gasly confident he can build on his form in 2021.

“I think it would be fair to say that it's been my best season<” he said. “I think I'm performing better than all the other years in Formula 1 with a bit more experience.I struggled a bit more last year… and I really wanted to work on my consistency this year, trying to be consistently in the points and be on top of the issues you can face in the races, because it's never ideal. 

“I really wanted to, in these maybe more challenging races where things are not really going your way, really try to make the best out of it and try to grab the few points we could, and I think that's what we did. And next year I really want to take another step forward as well and deliver even stronger performances.”

“I must admit at the start of the year, I thought the season would be a lot more difficult than it has been. In Barcelona when we tried the car, there were a couple of things we were not really happy with. On the aero side, I think we had some room for improvement – and straightaway the team did a pretty big step in the first few races.

“Obviously we had this first lockdown and the season was delayed, which probably helped us, as when we came to Austria, we had already some upgrades starting the season. But the trend was just to pick up some pace all the way through the season. 

Gasly also pointed to Honda for its steps with the engine for the upturn in AlphaTauri’s performance and expects another gain in 2021 for what will be the Japanese firm’s swansong campaign.

“Engine-wise, I think we have a very competitive power unit now. Honda has been doing a fantastic job all year long, reliability has been great, and looking at the evolution compared to last year, it's just going the right way. So really looking forward to our last year together in 2021.”