Giedo van der Garde defends Pierre Gasly: "Prove them wrong!"

Van der Garde was reminded by Gasly's situation of his own career in Formula 1. The Dutch driver only competed in Formula 1 for 19 races for Caterham and revealed he kept telling himself "it would be fine" despite his poor form.

Gasly joined Red Bull just 12 races ago from Toro Rosso, but in that time he failed to even score a podium finish and the bosses at the third-place team eventually ran out of patience with the French driver.

"I kept telling myself: This is your first year, stay calm, you have already proven it in GP2. It will come your way," van der Garde said on his Instagram account following the Gasly news breaking.

"Then I got a call from my team boss, someone with whom I always had a good relationship: 'Listen buddy, screw up the next race and you're out of it.' Silence. I did not panic, but (instead) turned the pressure into motivation.

"The next race was at Spa, where I finished in Q2. The team boss hugged me again. That is also how F1 works. Back to the topic: I sympathise with Pierre. However, you can never give up size, find your motivation and the flow with which you drove last year, and I am sure you can prove the opposite to everyone. Give 'm hell."

 

 

 

 

 

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Back in 2013 my results halfway at Caterham F1 weren’t as I expected. Neither what the team expected. It was my first year in Formula One, and soon I realized how everything happened in a blink of a second. One race a crash, the other one mechanical issues and before you know it you’re under a level of pressure you’ve never experienced. “It’s only the first year, keep calm, you’ve showed it in GP2, the coin will flip your side again” is what I kept telling myself. Then the phone rang. It was my team boss, who I always had a good relationship with. “Listen mate, screw up the next race and you’re out.” Silence. End of conversation. I didn’t panic though, but turned the pressure into motivation. Next race was Spa, where I ended up in Q2, and got hugged by the team boss again. That’s F1 too. Long story short; I feel for Pierre. But never give up mate, get your confidence back and the flow you were in last year and I’m sure you can prove everyone wrong. Give ‘m hell. @pierregasly

A post shared by Giedo van der Garde (@gvandergarde) on Aug 12, 2019 at 9:01am PDT