The new season of Formula 1 is just around the corner, fans and drivers are excited about the new cars, which are subject to far-reaching rule changes. Nevertheless, the gap between the large and small racing teams in the premier class will continue to be enormous, according to F1 driver Pierre Gasly. To substantiate his point of view, he put on a mind game about Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton is a seven-time world champion and, alongside Michael Schumacher, is considered the best Formula 1 driver of all time. Only very narrowly and probably due to a questionable decision by the race directors at the season finale in Abu Dhabi did he miss the sole record world championship title last year.
As good as the 37-year-old is, in a car from a smaller competitor he would also have been inferior, says AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly, who finished ninth last season.
“Even if Lewis (Hamilton, editor’s note) is the best driver in the history of Formula 1 today, he would take last place in a Williams or a Haas,” said the Frenchman in an interview with “mashup” convinced and added: “It’s not even like he’d be third or fifth, he’d be 18th or 16th.” Gasly expressed disappointment that “unfortunately in our sport the car accounts for the majority of the result”.
Formula 1: Gasly’s end at Red Bull “very frustrating”
What is clear is that Hamilton has been fighting for the title every year since moving from McLaren to Mercedes in 2013. Only in his debut year, when he finished fourth, as well as in 2016 and 2021, he failed to win the drivers’ championship. However, in 2008 he won the World Championship for the first time in a McLaren. In a similarly nerve-wracking season finale as in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton snatched the title from then-Ferrari driver Felipe Massa by overtaking in the last corner.
Pierre Gasly had to switch from title aspirant Red Bull back to Toro Rosso in 2019 after just one season in the premier class, where his F1 career began in 2017. The team, which has been operating under the name AlphaTauri since 2020, has been trying to close the gap to the big racing teams ever since. In the constructors’ championship, a sixth place jumped out in 2021.
The fact that he once had few chances at Red Bull was “very frustrating”, the 26-year-old said. He had the feeling “that I wasn’t given all the weapons to show what I could do”.