Why F1's "moments of genius" are ignored

Stroll, Gasly, Imola — Photo: © LAT Images

Formula 1

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Why F1's "moments of genius" are ignored

Eyes tend to stick firmly to the leading battle

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Wednesday 12 January 2022 10:38

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AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly believes the nature of F1 competition means that "moments of genius" often go unnoticed.

Gasly was one of the standout drivers in the sport last year as he troubled the Ferrari and McLaren drivers both in qualifying and the race, picking up a podium and narrowly missing out on single-handedly dragging his team to its highest championship finish.

With a rules reset ahead of the upcoming season, there is a chance AlphaTauri could either launch up the order or slip to the back, regardless of how it interprets the regulation changes.

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Asked if he was worried ahead of the new campaign during an end of 2021 interview that included GPFans, Gasly replied: "I don't want to think about that for now but I'm aware of that.

"I'm aware at the same time I'm looking at the other side, maybe McLaren might get it wrong, Ferrari might get it wrong, Alpine might get it wrong.

"There's just many unknowns that I don't have the answer [to] and I can think as much as I can and basically spend all the time thinking about it until I get to Barcelona and try the car and I won't really know.

"I'm just aware, mentally prepared, that maybe it's going to be as fun, maybe it's going to be as good, maybe it's going to be way more difficult.

"As I said, I hope we are as good because when you start to fight for P12, P13, these sorts of positions, [it] is not as exciting and obviously, people don't even really see your performances."

Using Mick Schumacher's rookie season at Haas as an example, Gasly explained: "You can do an amazing race but as I say, whether Mick delivers the performance of his life in a Haas because the pace is so far from the others, even if he has a moment of genius, no one will ever notice, except he will know that he's done an incredible job.

"It was probably for whatever reason in the best zone he's ever been but if you are at the back, no one cares, and no one sees it.

"It's difficult to enjoy, even to get the results and the reward. As you learn in motorsport, if you do a good job, you get rewarded with a trophy, champagne, but F1 is a different story and that's not always easy to accept."