Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly says he is happy to have taken the ‘B-class victory’ by finishing in sixth place in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Gasly converted a sixth place starting position into his and Toro Rosso’s best result since he finished fourth at the Bahrain Grand Prix with a solid drive in which he kept the Haas of Kevin Magnussen at bay.
The rookie Toro Rosso driver says a better finishing position would not have been possible for the team today.
“It’s a win in the B-class,” says Gasly. “Of course we know it’s impossible for us to do better. I think I was the only guy in the B-class who was not lapped in the race, so it was a really nice feeling.”
Gasly passed the Renault of Carlos Sainz at the start of the race, a move he points to as being crucial to the result.
“I knew that I had to overtake Carlos at the start just to have free air and be able to push as much as I could,” he explains.
“My start wasn’t fantastic. But then into turn one, I stayed on the outside with Max [Verstappen] and I got Carlos on the exit. After that, I knew I had my chance because it was in my hands and I just had to push as hard as I could with the car and try to keep the tyres alive. It went exactly like a dream. It was great.”
Having secured Toro Rosso’s second top six finish of the season, Gasly believes he has been able to take every opportunity to secure a big result so far this season.
“Honestly, I’m really happy because we knew that with Toro Rosso, you have big opportunities like this two or three times a year that the car works better than expected and things come your way,” says Gasly.
“I really wanted to make sure that this year I take all these opportunities when they come to me and that’s what we did in Bahrain and the same in Monaco. This weekend we knew there was something big. We played it well yesterday and again today. So really happy about it.”
2018 F1 season
- McLaren staff told us we were “totally crazy” to take Honda engines in 2018 – Tost
- ‘It doesn’t matter if we start last’: How Red Bull’s junior team aided Honda’s leap forward
- Honda’s jet division helped F1 engineers solve power unit problem
- McLaren Racing losses rise after Honda split
- Ricciardo: Baku “s***show” was Red Bull’s fault
Patrickl (@patrickl)
29th July 2018, 21:04
Yeah good result for Torro Rosso. Even though Hartley got dragged down being stuck behind a poorly performing Sainz. At least Gasly benefitted from their good qualifying result.
YellowSubmarine
29th July 2018, 21:16
Better than Leclerc? Possibly.
eljueta (@eljueta)
30th July 2018, 6:20
I would give the slight edge to Leclerc, because I think the Sauber is the inferior car and he has had a great season until now. But they’re for sure the most promising drivers on the grid.
mrfill
30th July 2018, 12:41
Can I add Ocon to the list please?
Nicola White
30th July 2018, 21:06
Not as inferior as Williams
kris
30th July 2018, 0:18
Hartley had a better start than Gasly too, shame he was hindered, but it was better to be safe, atleast they both finished.
Nicola White
30th July 2018, 21:07
Hartley is always hindered
greg-c (@greg-c)
30th July 2018, 1:29
At least McLaren can feel justified now in dumping Honda, seeing as its performing so crap,
ajpennypacker (@ajpennypacker)
30th July 2018, 2:03
I don’t understand Toro Rosso. They’ve been rubbish just about everywhere except for Bahrain and here. In both places they were the best of the rest. Gasly is very talented, but I’m still a bit sore about his “now we can fight” mockery of Alonso. Kid got to win something before mocking a legend.
Ink
30th July 2018, 3:01
I didn’t see anything wrong with it. Gasly is, after all, backing Honda. And I thought it was a nice fair, and funny, jab at McLaren. He said those words on behalf of Honda. And by the looks of it right now, Honda powered Torro Rosso, will have a better race result than Renault McLaren.
anon
30th July 2018, 7:49
Toro Rosso’s form is very inconsistent though – they’ve had occasional high peaks interspersed with quite a few middling results. They’ve finished less frequently in the points than any other team but Williams – their success has come from a few large points scores (such as Bahrain – that single 4th place still makes up over 40% of their total points haul), not from consistently being in the points.
Their current position of 8th in the WCC is still their worst place since 2013, and even Horner’s assessment put Honda level with Renault at best (though Honda themselves have made statements suggesting that they believe Renault are still slightly ahead).
RB13
30th July 2018, 11:07
Mate Alonso doesn’t even take himself as seriously as you are these days. It’s not that deep.
456
30th July 2018, 3:58
Why so much love for Gasly and Leclerc, but none for Magnussen, who is consistently beating a much stronger team mate?
Nunu
30th July 2018, 20:42
Agree – and Gasly has a mouth bigger than a normal frog… god I hate him…lol
Jere (@jerejj)
30th July 2018, 9:01
The DOTD.
rsp123 (@rsp123)
30th July 2018, 18:43
“B” Class? Not a bad idea. Like Le Mans, perhaps F1 should have a dedicated second category – as Gasly says, in many respects it is that way already.
Nunu
30th July 2018, 20:43
MAG steady as a rock – AGAIN..
Beating his teammate in both qualify and race (now 9-3)… would look this way if I was Ferrari..and let LEC grow some hair
Mangy Black Sheep (@mangyblacksheep)
31st July 2018, 2:22
So is Williams ‘C-class’?