Is Pierre Gasly Unsung?

He is all of 25 but has already won a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and that too, at the fastest-track on the calendar, alongside Spa-Francorchamps: Monza. He’s actually only 77 race starts old in Formula 1 and has already been told to leave an F1 team. Remember the painful exit at Red Bull, where he was considered just not good enough?

He’s won races, earned podiums but lost teams and not only that, even close friends, one of whom painfully and rather sadly made way to the heavens up above: Anthoine Hubert!

Everytime he visits Spa-Francorchamps, as he did back in 2020 upon visiting one of the fastest and most daunting of all Formula 1 venues, he places neatly, a bouquet of flowers by the side of the track where the promising up-and-coming soon-to-be F1 driver lost his life.

Truth be told, the life of Pierre Gasly, 1 podium already in 2021 along with a recent P4 at the Dutch GP, has been as much ecstatic as it is agony-inspiring.

And yet, at the end of the day, it plays out perfectly like the undulating rhythm of any glorious Formula 1 career that sees both-downfalls, emotional upheavals as also serene highs.

To most who still may not consider Pierre Gasly, one of F1’s most smiling and honest drivers out there as someone up among the likes of a Charles Leclerc of Ferrari or a George Russell of Williams, may perhaps be mistaken, even though they have every right of being so.

The ever-smiling, happy-go-lucky, dove-eyed driver from Rouen, France may appear as a light-hearted character but once the visors are down, he’s all about steely resolve and quintessential indefatigable never-say-die French attitude that highlights the in-born warrior in him who excels whilst adorning the white and navy-blue racing suit.

Yuki Tsunoda, the exciting young force at the Italian team might be a novice or someone who’ll take his time to get used to the rigours of the sport someday sooner than later, as explained by his recent lacklustre performances.

But today, if an Alpha Tauri, which, make no mistake, is strongly a midfielder- and not a frontrunner- is going places and actually speaking, punching above its weight- then much of the credit for that transformation goes to Pierre Gasly.

The team with which Sebastian Vettel made his debut back in 2008, when it was known as Scuderia Toro Rosso is currently sixth on the Constructor Standings, with no fewer than 84 points.

But you immediately understand the value of the young French driver when you realise how many points has he scored on his own to take the famous Constructor where it is at the moment.

With 66 points from not less than 13 races, Pierre Gasly has been more than the most consistent performer of his team; he’s been gaining 5 points, on an average from every race.

Though it is only when you break it down to lunge into some details, do you realize that what Pierre Gasly has achieved in 2021 F1 world championship is nothing less than a position between P7 and P8 that you realize the depth of his effort.

That’s when, let it not be forgotten, he’s up against two dominant Red Bull and as many Mercedes cars with the likes of Sainz, two podiums already in 2021, along with Leclerc, two poles, the most among the two drivers at Ferrari, have constantly been improving.

Forget not the fact that it’s been a year where Alpine, in stark contrast to the expectations of some, have already secured a win and seen Alonso constantly knocking on the doors of a podium finish. Forget the Fernando Alonso, who earned a fighting tenth, at the first-round at Austria, but remember the valiant samurai who ended forth at the Hungaroring.

If for anything, Alpha Tauri have done just the right thing to retain Pierre Gasly for the next season, whilst also confirming Yuki Tsunoda for 2022.

Gasly’s most under-appreciated drives in the recent times was his fighting fourth at Zandvoort, where much like many drivers on the current grid, he’d never previously raced an F1 contest in the beachy Netherlands city.

But that he finished exactly on the spot he began from highlights the power and resilience of a man who may not carry too much of fanfare but has the performances and substance to go the long way.

Long live the glowing legend of Pierre Gasly!