SAKHIR, Bahrain – With the way that the mass of Scuderia Toro Rosso crew members were wildly celebrating on pit lane Sunday after the Grand Prix of Bahrain, anyone who hadn’t seen the finish might have thought that their team won the race instead of Sebastian Vettel.
In all reality, they didn’t, but Pierre Gasly’s stunning fourth-place finish was easily the feel-good story of the weekend and marked the biggest highlight for Honda since their return to Formula One racing in 2015.
Gasly’s entire weekend gave Toro Rosso and Honda an early indication that something big was possible, with the young Frenchman posting top-10 times in all three free practice sessions and then qualifying sixth on Saturday, marking his best-ever performance in just his seventh Formula One start and his debut in the third knockout round.
After Lewis Hamilton was assessed a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change and dropped from fourth to ninth, Gasly gridded up fifth for Sunday’s 57-lap race – the highest starting position for a Honda engine after a dry qualifying session in more than three full years.
“At that point, I really felt like we had something,” said Gasly. “I felt really good in the car. From the first lap in FP1 (on Friday), I felt we’d been pretty fast, but we knew we had to put everything together to get into Q3. It was pretty mega! That was a huge confidence boost for me.”
Gasly’s start was equally as impressive on Sunday, as he charged forward when the lights went out to pass Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo for fourth on the initial start. Despite a quick challenge from Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen entering turn one on the second lap, Gasly re-passed Magnussen and then held his position all the way until lap eight, when a hard-charging Hamilton passed him to take over fourth spot.
Despite dropping back slightly, Gasly continued to keep Magnussen at bay and maintained pace, coming out after his first pit stop ahead of the Dane and pulling away slightly through his second stint.
The same cycle repeated itself following the final set of stops, with Gasly rising back into fourth after trouble for Kimi Raikkonen saw him strike a crew member in an unsafe release leaving pit lane on lap 36.
Raikkonen, who was running third prior to the stop, was forced to retire, while Gasly took advantage of the break and held on to his top-four running position all the way to the checkered flag.
A 12-point haul marked Gasly’s first-career points in Formula One competition, while his final result matched Toro Rosso’s best finish in their entire tenure with former engine supplier Renault. It was just the team’s seventh top-four finish in history and their first since Singapore last year with Carlos Sainz.
Gasly was elated with the result and his excitement was clear in his post-race interviews.
“Unbelievable! What an incredible day!” exclaimed Gasly. “For this to be the second race of the season with Toro Rosso and Honda, and we finish P4 … it’s just amazing. I’m so happy!”
“I had a nice fight with Magnussen and our pace was really good. Unfortunately, both Red Bull cars had to stop, and then after Raikkonen retired the team told me we had the opportunity to finish fourth, so I gave it everything I had all the way to the end. The car was fantastic from the beginning of the weekend; I could just push flat out and the pace was great because I managed to pull away from the Haas (of Magnussen). I need a bit of time to let this sink in, but we will definitely enjoy it with the team tonight!”
