First laps after illness ‘like a slap in the face’ – Gasly

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Pierre Gasly described his first laps in practice after being ill as feeling like a “slap in the face”

Grandstand Motor Sports presents our Italian Grand Prix coverage

RaceFans’ coverage of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza is presented in association with Grandstand Motor Sports.

Attend the 2022 Formula 1 season finale at Yas Marina in style with their comprehensive tour packages including return flights, four-star accommodation, transfers and a dedicated on-site representative. You can also add a three-day extension visiting nearby Dubai.

Find out more and book your tour here:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

In brief

First laps after illness ‘like a slap in the face’, says Gasly

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free

Pierre Gasly described his first laps in practice after being ill as feeling like a “slap in the face”.

The AlphaTauri driver was advised to miss Thursday’s media engagements on medical grounds but was cleared to participate in Friday’s practice sessions. He ended the day 14th ahead of team mate Yuki Tsunoda.

“I must say the first few laps were a bit of a slap in the face after being on the sofa and in bed for pretty much the last 72 hours,” Gasly said in response to a question from RaceFans.

“We knew it would be difficult, but this morning was the best I’ve felt over the last four days. I’m still not feeling 100%, but it was good enough to drive and tomorrow I should be again feeling better.”

De Vries “privileged” to drive three 2022 cars in one season

Nyck de Vries says he has relished the opportunity to drive three separate cars during three free practice runs during the 2022 season.

The 2019 Formula 2 champion and 2021 Formula E world champion has been given the opportunity to drive this year’s Williams, Mercedes and Aston Martin during Friday practice this season. De Vries is currently working to secure a race seat in Formula 1 for 2023.

“It might sound cliche, but it’s honestly very valuable to get the opportunity to look inside three different teams and organisations and see how they operate and how they approach different things, where they put their emphasis,” said De Vries after completing his Aston Martin run on Friday. “Also to feel the differences between the three cars.

“I think it’s just been a privilege to get that opportunity and to get that experience under my belt.”

Drugovich falls five places on grid after yellow flag penalty

Formula 2 championship leader Felipe Drugovich has been hit with a five place grid penalty for the Monza sprint race after setting a personal best micro sector under yellow flag conditions in qualifying.

The MP Motorsport driver secured fourth on the grid for the feature race by improving his time on his final lap while passing yellow flags at the final corner due to the crash of Ayumu Iwasa. The stewards determined he had set a personal best micro sector while driving through the yellow flag zone and handed him a five place grid penalty for Saturday’s sprint race

The decision means Drugovich, who would have started from seventh on the partially-reversed-grid, will now start from 12th. Championship contender Theo Pourchaire will start directly behind him in 14th.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

With Red Bull’s talks with Porsche over a potential 2026 power unit deal having collapsed, Jasper thinks that the Milton Keynes-based team will be just fine…

I totally understand why Red Bull doesn’t want change just for the sake of change. They’ve experienced being totally dependent on an engine manufacturer and then when that company decides to pull the plug they’re up the creek without a paddle.

I think their new model with the Powertrains being built at the same factory as the car is the right one. They can carry on regardless. If a car company wants to come in and be a part of it they can, that company can put some of their technical people into the mix and work with them but it’s on our terms. They can put their badge on the car as well. With Newey’s new RB17 Hypercar that was evidently just a placeholder name with a view to being rebranded as the Porsche Red Bull 999 Hypercar.

If they’re not going to team up with Porsche, Honda would make sense as they’ve already proven to work together well and successfully. Even now that Honda have officially pulled out it’s arguably the best performing engine in F1 at this moment with performance and reliability.
Jasper

Happy birthday!

No RaceFans birthdays today

On this day in motorsport

  • On this day in 1967 John Surtees won for Honda at Monza after a thrilling sprint to the finish

Newsletter

Get the best of our motorsport coverage after every F1 race in your inbox – sign up for the free RaceFans email Newsletter:

Author information

Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

12 comments on “First laps after illness ‘like a slap in the face’ – Gasly”

  1. Electroball76
    10th September 2022, 3:34

    Poor Pierre! He has the “mal de lla-mer”!

  2. Profile Photo

    Jere (@jerejj)
    10th September 2022, 7:41

    Such impracticality in Monza, as two tweets show, but luckily, not the case back in 2010 when I attended.

    I couldn’t agree more with COTD.

  3. Profile Photo

    F1 frog (@f1frog)
    10th September 2022, 8:33

    Monza 1967, one of the greatest drives in Formula 1 history from Jim Clark. It is famous for being the race in which Clark made up an entire lap on the rest of the field after a puncture to take the lead, before slipping to third with a fuel pump failure on the final lap. In truth, his Lotus 49 was certainly the class of the field, and his teammate Graham Hill, arguably the second-best driver in Formula 1 at the time (although John Surtees was perhaps on par with Hill by this time and Jochen Rindt and Jackie Stewart were still improving), was approximately 75 seconds ahead when he retired from the lead.

    So Jim Clark actually only made up 25 seconds on his teammate, Graham Hill, but this was still quite remarkable because it was at Monza before the chicanes, meaning there was very little room to make up time on other cars, and the only way to really do this was by slipstreaming. So while cutting through the pack, Clark must have been able to effectively make up time on the straights by slipstreaming past slower cars and avoiding being stuck behind them through the corners, and after Hill retired he was able to pass Jack Brabham for the lead of the race.

    Ultimately, Clark couldn’t convert this into victory due to a fuel pump failure on the final lap, but there was still a great finish as Brabham made a mistake at the Parabolica and Surtees was able to pass him on the run to the line to win.

    1. Profile Photo

      frood19 (@frood19)
      10th September 2022, 9:19

      I would love to have seen some of those Monza races from that era (well, not 1961 for obvious reasons). The high speed chess game of riding the slipstream for 60+ laps must have been quite the spectacle. So many classics as well: ’65, 67, 69, 70 famously. I don’t know how you could do it safely these days but it’d be safer than it was back then at least.

      1. Profile Photo

        F1 frog (@f1frog)
        10th September 2022, 10:07

        Monza 1971 actually used to be on YouTube, but looks as though it has been taken down now. But it does prove that footage of those races does exist and maybe one day somebody will buy it all from whoever is hiding it from us (I believe it is ITV but don’t know a huge amount about TV coverage from back then, although the Monza video is now described as owned and blocked by Formula One Management), and we will be able to watch those races. The two I would most love to see would be Silverstone 1965 and Nurburgring 1957, although I doubt the TV coverage would really be able to capture the brilliance of either of these two races very well, so the aforementioned Monza 1967 would be my pick as the one race from the past I would most like to watch.

        1. Profile Photo

          GT Racer (@gt-racer)
          10th September 2022, 17:27

          @f1frog F1 owns the rights to everything from the start of 1981 as that is when Bernie took control of TV rights.

          Prior to that it’s more complex as TV rights were something that were worked out for each race individually and in some cases who actually owns the rights for each race isn’t clear.

          In some cases the original broadcaster in each region (ITV or the BBC in the UK) will have rights to re-air there original broadcast. But in other cases they may not.

          In some cases the TV rights are owned by the circuit promoter of the time, Sometimes its the company that was hired to produce the broadcast, Sometimes its the local broadcaster, Sometimes it may be a private individual or company that brought the tapes and sometimes who owns what may not be known.

          It’s why getting full races or extended highlights for anything pre 1981 is so difficult.

          FOM did buy access to the Brunswick archive but that is mostly short review stuff rather than actual full races or broadcast highlights.

          Steve Rider is actually also working with ITV to go there tape library and put together an archive of there Motorsport library which will be made accessible to view.

          1. Profile Photo

            GT Racer (@gt-racer)
            10th September 2022, 17:30

            BTW some of the copyright claims on YouTube for the pre 1981 content are incorrect and are usually as a result of third party companies who work on behalf of F1 making false claims as they just see it’s F1 content and don’t understand the difference.

  4. jff
    10th September 2022, 9:40

    If I read the link, the headline, the introduction, the article header, the article first paragraph ,and the actual quote correctly, it seems like it felt a bit “like a slap in the face” ;)

  5. Profile Photo

    GT Racer (@gt-racer)
    10th September 2022, 17:15

    Hearing that a number of proposed format changes have been put forward to teams by Liberty.

    Points for practice is something that Stefano is pushing for quite hard.

    There is also the proposal for sponsored awards for fastest lap in each practice session, Most laps completed in practice, Most laps led in races etc… Think things like the Pirelli pole award and DHL fastest lap award that are in place now.

    And Liberty are once again pushing for reverse grids. Stefano is less supportive of reverse grids but it’s something those from Liberty Media are determined to see happen.

    I was told that virtually every proposal is something a vast majority of F1 fans are certainly going to be against but that the newer/younger American viewers that are currently Liberty’s target audience are expected to adore.

    1. Profile Photo

      F1 frog (@f1frog)
      10th September 2022, 17:44

      @gt-racer are you absolutely sure this is accurate? Because although I am no businessman, alienating the vast majority of your fan base in order to potentially appease a potential set of new fans, who will almost certainly be much smaller in number, sounds to me like nothing short of insanity in regard to a business strategy. And that is ignoring what it would mean for Formula 1 as a sport.

      Also, thanks for your information above.

      1. Profile Photo

        GT Racer (@gt-racer)
        10th September 2022, 20:40

        @f1frog They are of the view that they can afford to do things to attract Newer & Younger even if those things upset the existing fans because the longer term more hardcore fans will watch no matter what.

        The thought in terms of the show/sport is that they can get away with going in a more show direction for Friday/Saturday as long as the Sunday Grand Prix remains largely as it is.

        For example use a reverse grid for the sprint race and then argue it’s not too artificial or gimmicky because the grid for the GP will still be based off qualifying times.

        Those who follow WWE wrestling will have heard the phrase ‘Sports Entertainment’. Thats the goal moving forward for F1, It’s not just a sport but a form of entertainment as that is what they see offering the greatest potential for growth.

        1. Profile Photo

          GT Racer (@gt-racer)
          10th September 2022, 20:45

          To add to the first paragraph.

          Thats why i said last year that if you don’t like the sprint you need to simply not watch and not engage as lower ratings, lower attendance and lower social media engagement is the only thing they will look at when deciding if it’s someworth continuing with or not.

          Polls on sites like this that has a majority against something means nothing to them if ratings and engagement are the same or higher than on other weekends.

Comments are closed.