Gasly hails P7 Silverstone drive as ‘one of my best races’

Pierre Gasly enjoyed a scything drive to seventh at the British Grand Prix – and the AlphaTauri driver praised the Silverstone race as one of his best in Formula 1, having put the likes of a Ferrari and a Racing Point behind him with some scintillating overtakes.

Gasly’s performance had looked promising all weekend, as he finished Free Practice 2 in P8, while he would have made Q3 in qualifying had he set his lap before Racing Point’s Lance Stroll – the Canadian having posted exactly the same time but earlier in the session, meaning he progressed while Gasly did not.

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But he made amends in the race, showing strong pace throughout and taking several high profile scalps, including Stroll and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel – while he also held off the fast-approaching Red Bull of Alex Albon in the latter stages of the Grand Prix, which would likely have been its own small victory given that it was Albon who took his drive at the team some 12 months ago.

“Honestly I loved that race,” said Gasly afterwards. “It was probably one of the best on my side I must say.

“It was really tough. I tried to give everything to stay with the group ahead of us, with the Renault, with the Racing Point and the Ferrari, and I must say, the battles I had were really nice, really enjoyable.

"I had a big fight with Seb and it was really close when I overtook Lance around the outside of Turn 15… it was tight but that’s why you love racing, so I must say, it was a great race for us.”

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Gasly’s race at Silverstone – the track where he took his first GP2 win in 2016 – was at least happier than that of his team mate Daniil Kvyat, he dropped his AlphaTauri AT01 going into the fast Maggots corner on Lap 13 and crashed heavily into the barriers.

READ MORE: Kvyat 'distracted' ahead of big Silverstone shunt, as AlphaTauri suggest puncture may be to blame