After a tough six weeks, Pierre Gasly says he now feels stronger than ever to prove himself at Toro Rosso for the rest of 2019.
The Frenchman has dealt with setbacks both on and off the track having lost his Red Bull seat to Alex Albon during the summer break and then lost close friend Anthoine Hubert who died in a Formula 2 crash at Spa.
With a small break between Monza and this weekend’s race in Singapore though, it has given Gasly chance to reflect on the turbulent events.
“It’s been an intense last few weeks emotionally. A lot going on and it hasn’t been the easiest time,” he said via Crash.net.
“I think now in a way I’m happy with where I am with the team and the way we’ve worked with the first few weekends, with the engineers and what you get from the car.
“The race weekend goes by so fast you can’t really explore so much, but I feel like we are more prepared and going in the direction that we need. So I’m pretty happy.”
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“A lot of my friends have been involved and touched, and my family as well, I have a big family. There have been moments when we’ve all needed to regroup and be there for each other and just spend time with each other,” he continued.
“Inside me, I have more fire than before, because I know what I can achieve in these few weekends with Toro Rosso.
“For sure it hasn’t been the easiest time with all the external things that have happened, but my focus and determination is even higher than before.”
Considering what has been the main challenge, Gasly pointed to the task of adjusting to this year’s Toro Rosso car.
”It feels different in many ways. It’s difficult to compare the two cars where they are,” he said comparing it to the Red Bull.
“It is surprising to me how much different the feeling can be between two Formula 1 cars. Of course, I’m still not 100 per cent comfortable in the car, for me to be more competitive after two races.
“But I’m feeling quite comfortable, I can extract the performance from the car. There are things we can adjust to my liking but this comes from more time with the engineers to get more comfortable in the Toro Rosso.”