GPToday.net's 2019 F1 driver rankings - #18 - Pierre Gasly
- Published on 06 Dec 2019 13:30
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- By: Fergal Walsh & Harry Mattocks
Pierre Gasly’s 2019 season can be described simply as a rollercoaster, as he was shifted through the Red Bull hierarchy on the Formula 1 grid.
Ahead of the season, Gasly was undoubtedly faced with a major task of being paired up with Max Verstappen, who had the benefit of experience on his side – despite being younger than Gasly.
Gasly’s stay at Red Bull began to unravel before the season had even begun, as two crashes at pre-season testing rattled his confidence, according to the team.
He advanced in Q3 for the first time in China, but still boasted a big gap to Verstappen on the timesheets – and looked to be really struggling to get up to speed in a top team.
| Max Verstappen | Pierre Gasly | |
| Qualifying head-to-head | 12 | 1 |
| Race head-to-head | 12 | 1 |
| Average qualifying gap | -0.485 | +0.485 |
Despite the lack of pace, Gasly started to show some glimmers of improvements, scoring top six finishes in China, Spain and Monaco – and would have added to that in Baku had it not been for a mechanical failure.
However, after the race in Monaco, a tough period followed as questions over his future at Red Bull started to gain serious traction.
In Canada, he was out-qualified by the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo and couldn’t pass him in the race, while also crossing the line behind the other Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and his teammate Verstappen, who was eliminated in Q2 due to not being able to improve under a yellow flag.
At his home race in France, two McLarens, one Renault and Alfa Romeo took the chequered flag ahead of Gasly. In Austria, he was the slowest driver to set a lap time in Q3 and in the race, crossed the line one lap down on Verstappen – who won Red Bull’s first race of the season.
Following a couple of more difficult races, Gasly found himself back at Toro Rosso, as Red Bull opted to promote Alexander Albon to the top team.
The turnaround was incredible. The Frenchman scored points consistently and provided performances that looked good in the Toro Rosso, a team that expects to be there or thereabouts in the fight for points.
After gaining some consistency, Gasly defied all odds and took his maiden podium finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix – a feat few could have predicted following his disastrous first half of the season.
Gasly held his own against Kvyat at the team and secured a spot for the 2020 campaign when the team will be renamed to Alpha Tauri. Just what awaits him beyond next year will be a fascinating story to watch.
| Pierre Gasly | Daniil Kvyat | |
| Qualifying head-to-head | 7 | 2 |
| Race head-to-head | 5 | 4 |
| Average qualifying gap | -0.324 | +0.324 |
Although his achievements at Toro Rosso are all well and good, it doesn’t quite mask his poor stint at Red Bull – and at the end of the day, we never would have been back at Toro Rosso if he had performed satisfyingly at the senior squad.
Gasly's best moment of 2019: Finishing second in Brazil
There's no denying that Gasly's achievement in Brazil was an amazing accomplishment, especially after the rough season that he had. Of course, the carnage and disruption in front of him aided his top-three finish - but the ever-lasting stats don't lie. Gasly scored a podium in a Toro Rosso.
Gasly's worst moment of 2019: Demotion to Toro Rosso
The decision to swap Gasly out of the seat at Red Bull was justified by many when it happened, as his performances for the team were poor. He often struggled to beat midfield drivers, and was lapped by Verstappen in Austria - which also could be nominated for his lowest moment of the year.
Race Ratings
| AUS | BAH | CHN | AZE | SPA | MON | CAN |
| 6.0 | 3.5 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 4.0 |
| FRA | AUT | GBR | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA |
| 3.5 | 3.0 | 7.5 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 7.5 | 8.0 |
| SIN | RUS | JPN | MEX | USA | BRA | ABU |
| 9.0 | 6.5 | 9.0 | 8.0 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 7.5 |
Driver Rankings
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Replies (15)
Login to replyJuJuHound
Posts: 352
I don't know what is worst, being out of F1 or being relegated to 2nd team knowing it is almost impossible to come back; Brazil was lucky but it did really happened and I'm happy for him to bring him back motivation.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Disagree, again. Gasly had a poor run at RBH, but aced it at TRH. No doubt I'd put him above Kvyat, not to mention Grosjean.
Kean
Posts: 692
I've been keeping my own ranking of the drivers throughout the season, and Gasly has proven to be the most difficult to place. His performance at RBH is a 3 or 4 out of 10 at best but at TRH its an 8,5 at least and I also rate him higher than Kvyat. I don't think that his poor performance at RBH is only down do "nerves", I suspect that the RBH is a difficult car to get along with and tailored to Verstappens preferences. That being said, Gasly's poor performance in the beginning earned him low scores in my book and that results in a low placement out of 20 but higher than 18. Here's how I see it:
20: Kubica
19: Stroll
18: Grosjean
17: Giovinazzi
16: Magnussen
15: Gasly
Kean
Posts: 692
Oh, what tha hell..
14: Kvyat
13: Räikkönen
11: Hülkenberg & Vettel
10: Albon
9: Bottas
8: Perez
7: Ricciardo
6: Russel
5: Norris
4: Leclerc
3: Sainz
2: Verstappen
1: Hamilton
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yes, aced is indeed a bit excessive, but I do think he did better than P18. As you suspected, the RBH has indeed been described as a pretty difficult car, with all three drivers referring to it as a diva. The rear, in particular, seemed to be a problem area for RBH this year.
As for your rankings, I more or less completely agree with how you placed the drivers. At the very least, these are the drivers I think belong in P20-P15.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Just going by gut feeling, I'd probably say my rankings are something like this:
20: Kubica
19: Stroll
18: Grosjean
17: Giovinazzi
16: Magnussen
15: Gasly
14: Kvyat
13: Räikkönen
12: Bottas
11: Bottas
10: Russell
9: Hülkenberg
8: Albon
7: Ricciardo
6: Norris
5: Vettel
4: Sainz
1: Hammy/Vers/Lec
No 1 is hard to cathegorize, because I feel the difference between Hammy and the other 2 is the best car on the grid. One cannot underestimate the extra comfort and confidence that leads to.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Also: That's right. I placed Bottas twice behind P10. So boring was he.
Kean
Posts: 692
Suspecting Perez should be in place of one of the Bottas'
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Nah, but I would however place him on P6 or P5. He has been incredible this year.
Kean
Posts: 692
The top 10 is more difficult than the bottom 10. In my little fantasy world the bottom 3 should be out in 2020 and replaced by: Hulkenberg, Rosenqvist and Vergne or Vandoorne.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Cannot argue with that. Or maybe Rosenqvist or Yamamoto.
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Your article's metric is based on a driver's relative performances to team mates. But, the ranking is against the rest of the drivers. It doesn't make sense.
xoya
Posts: 583
I thought Grosjean will be here, but in the meantime I watched Sean on TheF1Word and actually statistics is on Grosjean's side. He even beat Magnussen in 7-5 in race positions when both of them finished.
I guess that subjective feeling of Grosjean being bad is very strong, it makes us ignore everything else.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
That's true, but as my statistics teacher said, "there are but three lies in this world: lies, damned lies and statistics". The key word here is "when both of them finished". Grosjean retired 6 times this year versus KMag's 3 times, and of those most were down to driver errors. Then there is the fact that KMag actually lasted where it mattered, thus being the main point scorer.
Dert38
Posts: 376
Great driver. Better than Ocon