BRENDAN LINES December 2, 2021

ALPHA Tauri’s Pierre Gasly has nothing to lose in the drivers’ championship, but everything to gain in completing his transformation from Red Bull reject to Formula 1’s Mr Consistency.

Gasly, is on the verge of completing a career-best season and has almost single-handedly elevated the team to sixth in the constructors’ championship with the potential to finish fifth — which would be the team’s best result ever.

The 25-year old has been on an upward trajectory since his maiden win at Monza in 2020, he now sits as ‘the best of the rest’ in the drivers’ championship outside the drivers in the top four teams.

The Frenchman’s 14 top-six appearances from 20 qualifying appearances so far this season, has yielded deserving and sometimes surprising results.

Gasly himself might say he was flattered by grid penalties that promoted him to a front-row start at the previous race in Qatar.

But it was just an example of how well he has placed himself to capitalise on the championship battle ahead of him between Red Bull and Mercedes.

“It was great to be on the front row again, the first time since I raced in Super Formula in Japan in 2017, and being there alongside Lewis (Hamilton) was very cool,” he said.

“Even though I was there slightly by default, we have come close a few times this year and it was a good experience. I got a taste for it!”

His new-found consistency has seen the 25 year-old surpass his 2020 tally of ten top-ten finishes and sits on 13 after the previous race in Qatar —  a rare lowly 11th place.

After a pleasing run in the Americas triple header, Gasly admitted ahead of this week’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in Jeddah, a turnaround was needed.

“In overall terms, the last triple-header went very well for us, with strong qualifying performances; fifth in Mexico, fourth in Brazil and Qatar,” he said.

“Unfortunately, in the Championship the position is more complicated, as Alpine had a good weekend in Qatar.”

So just where can the Frenchman get the jump on his rivals and perhaps keep adding to his credentials as Mr Consistency.

Earlier this week, Gasly indicated the team should be quick to adapt to the new and relatively unknown Jeddah street circuit. 

“I think it’s going to be very complicated from a driving point of view and there will be the extra challenge of the track surface being completely new,” he said.

“So, we are looking at a street circuit with quite low grip, which is a new challenge as no one has any data from the track. 

“But for our part, we showed in Qatar that we can adapt fairly quickly to a new situation, running near the front immediately from the Friday. 

“However, we will have to work hard to be quick over a single lap and also a long distance, to find the right compromise for both Saturday and Sunday.”