Satisfied Gasly: 'Thought it would be a lot harder than it was in the end'

Pierre Gasly had a difficult season in 2019. As a result, he was swapped halfway through the season for Alexander Albon, who finished the season at the team. Gasly was transferred back to Toro Rosso and in 2020 he, of course, competed for the same team, but under the name AlphaTauri. Now looking back on the past year, the Frenchman says he had his best year ever.

More difficult than imagined

"I have to admit that at the beginning of the year I thought the season would be much more difficult than it ultimately was," says Gasly in conversation with Motorsport-Total.com. "When we tested the car in Barcelona, there were a few things we weren't really happy with. On the aerodynamic side, I think we had some room for improvement and the team made a big step forward in the first few races."

"Of course the season started late, which probably helped us when we arrived in Austria. We had already had some upgrades then. As far as the engine is concerned, I think we are now very competitive. Honda did a fantastic job all year round, the reliability was great."

Best season

Now that the season is over and things went better than expected, Gasly can do nothing else: 2020 "was my best season. I think I did better than any other year in F1. I have more experience and I know better what I need, and I ask the people around me to really give the best of themselves."

Gasly is not necessarily satisfied with that, because he is setting himself a target for 2021. "Next year I want to take another step forward and do even better." Of course, he mentions Monza, where he won his first race, as the highlight of 2020, which was also one of his best races.

However, that is not the only race he ranks among 'the best'. Gasly says: "Bahrain 1 was also one of my best races in time management and I think Portimao was also a great race. So it is difficult to choose just one race because you always have to deal with different situations that require different skills. So none of them stand out in that respect."