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During the opening lap of this past Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda crashed into each other during a battle for eighth place. The incident was bad enough that it ended both drivers' races. When addressing the collision after the race, specifically, if there should have been a penalty given out, Gasly chose not to comment on the issue, instead referring to his knowledge of Tsunoda's motives while driving, and explaining that while the clash should have been avoided all together, it's just part of racing.
The Alpine driver's familiarity with the Japanese driver comes from their time together on the Red Bull sister team of AlphaTauri, which they were both a part of during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. Speaking after the race in Jeddah, Gasly explained that he doesn't believe that his former teammate was acting out of malice.
“I know Yuki’s intentions, I know him very well, I know he didn’t mean anything bad. It’s just an unfortunate outcome and obviously it should not happen, but it’s motorsport," Gasly was quoted as saying by F1.
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The Frenchman also highlighted that these kinds of circumstances are never enjoyable for anyone.
“It has been quite a long time since we’ve been involved in any of this sort of situation and it’s never great.” [via F1]
Pierre Gasly and the Red Bull Racing driver were fighting it out on lap one of the event, and in between turns three and four, the Frenchman and Yuki Tsunoda were side-by-side during a tight left turn. When the track immediately veered right after, both kept going in their positions, causing them to make contact and spin off into the wall together.
The French driver had qualified in ninth place for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which was the second time this season that he had started from that position, having scored the same qualifying result at the season opener in Australia. So far this season, Pierre Gasly's highest start came during the Bahrain Grand Prix, where he began the race in fourth place.
Pierre Gasly talks about the what-ifs of the Jeddah race
Speaking after the race, Pierre Gasly shared his belief of what the result would have been if he hadn't suffered the race-ending crash. The French driver explained that he wasn't as upset about the incident between him and the Red Bull Racing driver as much as he was at the lost potential of being up in the race alongside the Williams drivers, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, who finished in eighth and ninth place.
“It feels like we would have been in the mix with Carlos [Sainz] and Alex [Albon] today. The incident itself doesn’t matter too much to me today, it’s more that we looked strong and we could bag some good points for the team in that race." [via F1]
Meanwhile, Gasly's Alpine teammate, Jack Doohan, crossed the checkered flag to take 17th place, with the French team scoring no points at the end of their weekend in Jeddah.
