Pierre Gasly believes his performances in the opening 11 races of the 2021 season mark it out as the best start to a campaign in his Formula 1 career.
The AlphaTauri driver has scored points in eight events already this season, including a podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
He sits eighth in the drivers’ championship as a consequence, one spot ahead of Daniel Ricciardo despite being tied on points with the Australian.
“It’s probably the best start of the season I’ve ever had in Formula 1,” the Frenchman asserted.
“It was really successful.
“We obviously managed to secure one podium in Baku already this year, which was the highlight.
“I think we’ve had great Saturdays, great qualifying, putting the car in Q3 for most of the races, and this was a great achievement.
“I think our Sundays started not as great and I think we’ve made progress and managed to fight some pretty fast cars, sometimes the McLaren, sometimes the Ferraris, and then we can see our battle in the championship shaping up race after race with Aston and Alpine.
“We’re fighting for the fifth position in the constructors’ championship, which is something which never happened for the team,” he added.
“So it just shows we were having a good year and it’s one of my personal target to bring this fifth position to these guys.”
Gasly has endured a rocky career since making Formula 1 debut in late 2017.
The Frenchman stepped in when Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) was in the midst of one of its busiest periods of musical chairs.
He subsequently found his way to the senior Red Bull outfit at the end of the following season where he was comprehensively overshadowed by Max Verstappen.
Halfway through 2019 he was relegated back to Toro Rosso in favour of Alex Albon (who is no longer on the F1 grid), only to finish second at the Brazilian Grand Prix in the penultimate race of the season.
Last year, he sensationally won the Italian Grand Prix with his performances thus far suggesting he could return to the senior team in the near future.
Currently, the seat he would take is occupied by Sergio Perez, the Mexican seemingly doing just enough for the moment to hang on to it for another season.
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