Pierre Gasly reveals his TOUGHEST part of the track

ItalianGP, Frecce Tricolori — Photo: © LAT Images

Italian Grand Prix

Former Monza F1 winner reveals his TOUGHEST part of the track

Pierre Gasly won the Italian Grand Prix in 2020

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Wednesday 30 August 2023 16:57 Updated: 23:34

Perre Gasly has claimed what he believes to be the most challenging corner of the Monza track ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix, as he looks to build on his recent podium at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Frenchman has impressed in recent races having, at first, struggled to settle into his new Alpine team. A podium in the sprint race in Belgium before the summer break has been quickly followed by a third place at Zandvoort last weekend.

Article continues under video

He now sits in 10th in the drivers' championship, a single point ahead of his team-mate Esteban Ocon.

Having previously won the Italian GP in 2020 in what is still his only Formula 1 race victory, Gasly will be hoping for more success at a track that is known for throwing up surprise results.

Speaking to Alpine's official Instagram account, Gasly was asked about his favourite corner at Monza. "Probably Ascari because it is the most challenging, you're arriving at such high speeds, it's a very high speed chicane", Gasly said referring to the circuit's last section before the final turn of Parabolica.

"And the Lesmos, the two right corners in the second sector are also pretty cool, so yeah I'd say these three corners."

Gasly wins in Monza

Gasly's victory at Monza with the AlphaTauri team was one of the most exciting parts of the 2020 season, a season that was drastically impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pierre Gasly couldn't quite believe his shock victory at the 2020 Italian GP

After leading the race relatively comfortably, Lewis Hamilton pitted during a safety car period, despite the pit-lane being closed.

Everybody else stayed out, and it looked like Hamilton had just managed to get into the pits before they had announced the closure of the pit-lane. However, during a red flag period after what was a huge crash for Charles Leclerc, it was announced that Hamilton had in-fact broken the rules and was handed a 10-second time penalty.

The Mercedes driver took that straight after the restart, meaning he found himself right at the back of the grid, out of contention for the race win.

That left Gasly, the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen, Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz in the McLaren to fight it out amongst themselves for what would be a historic race win for all of them involved.

Having got past both Stroll and Raikkonen, Sainz looked the most likely to hunt down the AlphaTauri of Gasly and claim his first ever victory in a McLaren that had shown great pace throughout the weekend.

However, Gasly somehow managed to hold off Sainz's challenge, and came home to take his first ever race victory, and the team's first victory since the same race in 2008, when they were known as Toro Rosso.

These two shock results aren't the only two shocks that Monza has witnessed in recent years.

In 2021, in amidst one of the fiercest championship rivalries of all time between Hamilton and Max Verstappen, it was Daniel Ricciardo who managed to claim the victory at Monza with his McLaren team.

In 2019, Leclerc produced a stunning defensive drive to take a stunning victory in front of Ferrari's adoring fans in a season that was largely dominated by Mercedes.

Will we see another shock in 2023? Or will Verstappen come home to take his tenth consecutive race win?