Pierre Gasly claims his Alpha Tauri had engine problems en route to P3 finish in Baku

Alpha Tauri driver Pierre Gasly has claimed he was managing an issue with his Honda engine en route to his podium finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

While answering a fan’s question as part of Alpha Tauri’s Reddit AMA series, the Frenchman said:

“On my side, Baku was the highlight of our season. So P3 podium, it wasn't quite like Monza 2020, but still, just the way we did it. From half the middle of the race, we spotted like an issue on my engine. And the guy said, Okay, we're never gonna finish the race. We're gonna blow up the engine. We're losing performance. They were decreasing my engine performance.

“And I don't know how we still managed to get that our best result of the year, so it was a pretty insane race and a nice battle with Charles at the end.”

Pierre Gasly qualified P4 on Saturday but lost a position to Sebastian Vettel on the first safety car restart. However, on the second standing start, he inherited the podium position after Lewis Hamilton’s lockup but had to defend hard against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to hold on to it.

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Alpha Tauri fail to beat Alpine to P5 in constructors despite Pierre Gasly’s best efforts

Scuderia Alpha Tauri failed to achieve their team principal Franz Tost’s life-long goal of securing P5 in the constructor's championship, despite Pierre Gasly's stellar efforts throughout the season.

A string of pointless races late in the season, combined with a disastrous race in Qatar when both Alpha Tauri’s failed to score while rivals Alpine scored big points with only three races to go, meant the team’s chances of securing P5 was over.

On the other hand, Pierre Gasly single-handedly earned the tiny Italian outfit more points this season than any other since its debut nearly three decades ago.

The former Red Bull driver has been one of the strongest drivers in the midfield this year. He has consistently put in stellar performances to finish more races behind the top four cars than any other driver on the grid.

Pierre Gasly made his F1 debut in late 2017, replacing Brendon Hartley at Toro Rosso for the final few races, and quickly impressed his bosses at Red Bull by earning a seat on the senior team for 2019.

But his brief stint at Red Bull as Max Verstappen’s teammate turned out to be a nightmare, with Gasly struggling to even reach Q3 in most races with the third-best car on the grid.

Some felt that he was promoted too early to the senior team, and the intense pressure had impacted his confidence in the car. By mid-season, he was demoted back to Toro Rosso and was replaced by Alexander Albon.

Back with Toro Rosso, Gasly earned the first podium of his F1 career and continued to build his confidence by putting in stellar performances. The highlight of his career came at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix in Monza when he made the most out of a chaotic race to clinch his maiden victory.

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