Gasly has room for improvement

Last year’s Italian Grand Prix winner Pierre Gasly says there’s room for improvement as he prepares for the 2021 Formula 1 season.

The Frenchman is set to remain with AlphaTauri for the coming campaign, his third with the squad.

Gasly was one of the standout performers of 2020, recapturing the form that earned him a promotion to the Red Bull senior team for 2019.

“I think last year I did a very good job and I was able to drive the way I wanted and I managed to have an excellent relationship with my engineers, we understood what the team needed, what I needed and how to work together and that’s what brought the results,” the 25-year-old said.

“I was really satisfied, but there is still room for improvement, room for fine tuning.”

Victory at Monza last year was the standout performance, and only Gasly second career appearance on an F1 podium.

He netted 10th in the drivers’ standings with a points tally more than double that of team-mate Daniil Kvyat.

Gasly credits his upturn in form to consistency and familiarity with the team.

After making his F1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2018, he was promoted to the senior squad following Daniel Ricciardo’s departure.

He tenure there was brief and he was soon relegated in favour of Alex Albon.

“I put my good results last year down to being more experienced, as it was my third season in F1 and also the first time I had stayed for a second full season with the same team,” Gasly reasoned.

“I’d say it was mainly the continuity from 2019 that paid off, working with the same engineers, having a better understanding of what we are doing and as a team we all succeeded in exploiting the experiences from the previous two years.

“I’m always hungry for more, so I’m sure we can achieve great things also in 2021.

“What you need over the whole year is to be consistent and to score at every opportunity,” he added.

“We need to see how the car goes in Bahrain and then we’ll know more.

“But the key will be consistency and not to make any mistakes.”

Three days of pre-season testing begin in Bahrain on Friday, with the Gulf State set to play host to the opening round of the F1 season on March 26-28.