Formula 1 still has stories as fantastic as that of Pierre Gasly in Monza, where this Saturday he dared to challenge the big guns of the championship to celebrate his first pole position in the World Championship, in his tenth season in the competition and after suffering the contempt of Red Bull - he replaced him with Alexander Albon and sent him to Toro Rosso, his second team -, first, and his exile, later. In his fourth year at Alpine, the Frenchman leads a team that has been forced to reinvent itself after the departure of the Renault group, which disappeared as an engine supplier with a view to this year, and after almost half a century. The connection between Italy and Gasly is amazing if we take into account that it was here, exactly six years ago, where the rider achieved the only victory that appears on his service record; dressed in the Alpha Tauri suit and in a race nonsense, with accidents (Charles Leclerc) and penalties (Lewis Hamilton) that placed a secondary theoretical under all the spotlights. History repeated itself in qualifying, even though on this occasion the loot is absolutely deserved, the result of a strategy that came out as expected to retaliate for the boy from Seine-Maritime, who had been in a tremendous balloon for two days after learning, this Friday, that the FIA took away the podium achieved in Monaco, after validating McLaren's claims.
Gasly's anger was unleashed by Flabio Briatore, the director of Alpine, who even dared to question the impartiality of the judges who tried the case: "The problem is that one of the judges is very linked to McLaren, because we have a photo of him giving a speech for them, in 2018. It is very unfair," said the colorful Italian executive, who returned to F1 in 2024, led by Luca de Meo, then CEO of the Renault Group, who left his position a year later, leaving Briatore at the head of the team.
Gasly's whiplash was not a stroke of luck. To begin with, because the A526 took a step forward with the improvements that were applied to it a couple of weeks ago, in Zandvoort. To that we must add two more elements, which, combined, led the French team to sign the first pole position in its history. On the one hand, the aerodynamic configuration of the car in Monza, the one with the least aerodynamic load of the entire calendar. Until now, all teams had a specific parts package for what is known as the Temple of Speed. However, the influence of the budget limit on season planning has made the majority choose to design more versatile spoilers, to be used in various scenarios. But that is not Alpine's plan, which put a car on the track with hardly any drag (drag resistance) that enhanced the thrust of the Mercedes engine it incorporates. And along with the above, Gasly was also catapulted by the perfect slipstream, practically leaving the workshop last in his last attempt at a fast lap, and being sucked in by the train of cars that were circulating in front of him. Among them, George Russell, who will be at his side (3:00 p.m., Dazn). Kimi Antonelli, the leader of the general standings, will start last after receiving a penalty of 30 positions on the grid for uncorking the fifth power unit. Carlos Sainz will start 14th and Fernando Alonso, 20th.
