Gasly on home race: 'Comes at a perfect time'

Next weekend, the Formula 1 races will take place In a press release from AlphaTauri, Gasly says his third place in Azerbaijan couldn't have come at a better time. "It comes at exactly the right time because now we have my home race at Paul Ricard. Everyone in France is very excited. There is a lot of enthusiasm and high expectations for the rest of the season. The level of performance we have shown makes us very excited to see what we can perform in the coming races. We're going to go into this weekend in the same way as before." Gasly is not only looking forward to it because of his form and the fact that it is a home race for him. He also thinks Paul Ricard is just a fantastic circuit to race on.

"The circuit is very special with a lot of run-off lanes, unlike the previous two circuits, so the risks are not so high, but it is still very complicated and technical because there are some types of corners here that you don't find anywhere else, especially the Beausset corner in the last sector, a very long right-hander followed by a left-hander. As for the car, it's clear that our first task will be to find the best setup for this unusual layout."

Many fans present in France

Besides the perfect timing when it comes to Gasly's own performance, there is another reason why this Grand Prix comes at the perfect time.

"I've heard that the organisers will allow 15,000 spectators per day, which is great, because I was really hoping there would be fans for my home race. It's important to be able to share the weekend with them and it's important because it will be the first time I will race in front of a home crowd as a Grand Prix winner, after my victory in Monza last year. That makes it very special, so I'm a bit impatient to witness that. And the podium in Baku caught people's attention, so I've had enough media attention to deal with. I don't want to get burnt out before the weekend starts, so we're trying to manage it as best we can."

Gasly's past at Paul Ricard

Because in F1 Gasly hasn't necessarily been very successful. He knows this himself. "To be honest, I haven't done anything special at Paul Ricard in the past. In my first F1 race here I collided with Ocon and had to retire on the opening lap and in 2019 it wasn't a fantastic weekend and I finished tenth. Baku was another circuit that never suited me until this year and I hope we can follow the trend and change that this weekend as well."

Gasly will be looking to run his best race at Paul Ricard this weekend and continue his current form. There will be plenty of fans to cheer him on in the south of France.