Pierre Gasly has paid tribute to his Alpine team after securing a surprise third place in the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix to take the fourth podium of his Formula 1 career.
After finishing third in the Sprint at Spa, Gasly finally made the podium for real in Zandvoort after an early tyre stop put him in a perfect spot to capitalise and end a podium drought of over two years.
“It’s very satisfying when you get a reward for the work we’ve put in as a team,” said Gasly when asked by Total-Motorsport.com about his sweet his podium was. “This year, we’ve [previously] come close in Monaco.
“Running [in] third, it was clearly a missed opportunity with the extra stop which wasn’t necessary. But it’s a sort of season where you’ve just got to keep trying again, and you’re going to be at a point where things finally click.
“I’m really pleased and proud of the team because we haven’t been fortunate, but you got to keep trying and keep looking at yourself, seeing the areas where you can improve. I hope we can build up from there with the guys.”
Toughest race of the year with mixed conditions
With wet and dry conditions throughout, the drivers and strategy teams had their work cut out in Zandvoort, with the race red-flagged after track conditions proved to be undrivable.
Gasly’s podium, in tricky conditions, was helped by him staying out of trouble and closing the gap to Sergio Perez, who was handed a five-second penalty for a pitlane speeding infringement.
“Today was probably the most challenging race of the year,” said Gasly. “There were many moments where you could have got it wrong.
“But as a team, we just tried to maximise [the performance], we ended up on slicks in the dry then inters, so it was all about adapting yourself to the conditions.
“[The] race was probably the most fun all season. Very exciting to be fighting for these positions, and ultimately, we had a solid race.”
