Sitting on the top step of the podium, Pierre Gasly is savoring.
After the effervescence, he is alone now.
Tears rise.
With his head in his left hand, the pilot struggles to grasp the scope of the feat he has just accomplished.
After a crazy race in Monza (Italy), he has just become the first Frenchman to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix since Olivier Panis in Monaco, in 1996. At the time, Gasly was barely three months old.
"It's incredible, I'm not sure I realize, loose the hero of the day, ecstatic, at the microphone of Canal +.
I have no word, except to thank the whole team.
Panis was more talkative on the encrypted channel.
“If I wanted a French driver who dethroned me, it was him.
Congratulations to Pierre, he's a fabulous guy and a great professional.
"
Congratulations from Alain Prost
Twenty-four years, three months and eighteen days later, the Normand adds his name to those of the twelve French who have already won in F1.
An unexpected feat.
“I always said to myself, when I arrived in F1, that I wanted to change this statistic, admits Gasly.
But I never thought I would make it here at AlphaTauri.
It's crazy, I'm so happy.
"
The praises quickly rained on the young pilot.
“He's a great guy,” said his compatriot Romain Grosjean (Haas).
It's fantastic, awesome.
Nothing special to say about my race.
Today is:
Pierre, Pierre, Pierre!
He so deserves it.
"" It's exceptional what he has just done, a real achievement, rejoices Jean Alesi, winner in Canada in 1995. Monza is the most difficult circuit for me, we are always at very high speed, the mistake do not forgive.
It was masterful to see this mastery.
"" He is really someone who deserves it, supports Alain Prost, the only French world champion.
He's had a complicated journey since last year and has rebuilt himself completely.
"
Gasly on August 27 at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, where Anthoine Hubert died a year ago.
Xpb / Icon Sport
In view of the last eighteen months, this success takes on the air of revenge.
Praised for his qualities on his arrival at Toro Rosso (ex-AlphaTauri) in 2017, he joined the “big sister” team, Red Bull, the following year.
Gasly had a difficult year there and, in August 2019, was demoted, unceremoniously replaced by Alexander Albon.
"It's a nice snub to Helmut Marko
(Editor's note: the boss of the Red Bull pilots sector)
, he should have kept him", slipped Panis.
Alone on his podium, the native of Rouen (Seine-Maritime) may have thought about it.
No doubt, too, he had a fond thought for his friend Anthoine Hubert, barely a year after his death in a Formula 2 race, on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit (Belgium).
In his mind, certainly, his family, crazy about motorsport.
Like her grandmother Evelyne, regional karting champion in the 1960s, or her father Jean-Jacques, champion of the Normandy League in the same discipline.
Since his first turns of the wheel, eighteen years ago, on the Lucien Lebret karting circuit in Anneville-Ambourville (Seine-Maritime), the little prodigy has come a long way.
“We were in apnea on the last three laps,” says his father.
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Last three laps swallowed in less than five minutes, but which seemed to last hours for his parents.
Their son had taken the lead on lap 29, taking advantage of an interruption after a spectacular accident for Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and the penalty imposed on Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) for an unauthorized pit stop.
At the end of a fabulous battle with Carlos Sainz Jr. (McLaren), whose silhouette grew in his mirrors over the laps, the Frenchman won with nothing.
“Carlos was very fast, he was coming back to me.
I shouldn't make a mistake and stay focused until the end.
I attacked a lot at the start to get ahead and not give them any suction.
But I gave everything!
"
Driven by motorsport, Pierre Gasly made his karting debut near Rouen.
DR
A podium had already brought together the two men, in Brazil, a year ago.
The Frenchman took 2nd place, behind Max Verstappen (Red Bull) but just ahead of the Spaniard.
At 23 years, 9 months and 10 days, he had become the youngest Frenchman to stand on a podium.
He is now 24 and can dream big about the rest of his career.
In 1983, Alain Prost had achieved the first of his 51 Formula 1 successes at the age of 26.
All hopes are allowed.
