Pierre Gasly accepts Lando Norris’ “idiot” jibe after high-speed move

Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris wheel to wheel in France — Photo: © LAT Images

French Grand Prix

Gasly accepts Norris’ “idiot” jibe after high-speed move

AlphaTauri and McLaren drivers went wheel-to-wheel in France

Will Gray

Sunday 20 June 2021 19:15

Pierre Gasly conceded rival Lando Norris was fair to call him “an idiot” after the pair nearly came together in a dramatic wheel-to-wheel moment during the French Grand Prix.

Gasly finished his home race in seventh, two places behind Norris in fifth but the AlphaTauri driver had earlier made a risky move in a bid to pass the McLaren.

Discussing the move together on Sky Sports F1, the pair agreed to call it a ‘racing incident’. Gasly joked: “I’m the angry one, I finished behind at the end of the race! It was hard racing. I saw him, he was coming very fast, it was close.

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“It was very close. I know he has good reactions, so I kind of knew…I was aiming for a nice exit on the kerbs. I’m sure [the fans] enjoyed it, right? It was mega!”

When told of Norris’ name-calling comment, Gasly responded: “In the heat of the moment, probably if he would have done the same thing to me I would have told him the same way.”

Gasly needs to “let emotions calm down”

Gasly was racing in front of his home fans for the first time as a race winner after taking victory in the Italian Grand Prix last year.

At the Paul Ricard Circuit, he felt he could have finished a few places higher had his team not made mistakes on strategy.

He added: “I need to let the emotions calm down a bit, but still we were the fourth-best car at the end of the race behind the two McLarens, the two Red Bulls and the two Mercedes.

“We can’t expect much more. Daniel [Ricciardo] undercut us, I think Charles [Leclerc] undercut us and we lost two positions there, so we need to review if we could have done something slightly different.

“I was really struggling in the first stint with the tyres, I guess like everyone, but I was quite vocal on the radio saying ‘I want to pit, I want to pit’ and I saw the guys sitting behind me and we’re still going to exit ahead of them.

“In the end, we lost two positions and when you are in the traffic after and need to push at the end of the stint I was damaging the tyres. That didn’t help us, but all in all, it was still very positive.

“In the end, they were really fast. I tried everything I could but it wasn’t enough [but] P7 is still one of our strongest races of the year and we saw good pace in quali and also in the race on a more classic track so that’s positive.”