Gasly: Losing the podium is the hardest day of my career

      Pierre Gasly finished third in Monaco, but due to two penalties for speeding in the pit lane, he moved down to seventh place in the standings. Alpine requested the right to review the penalties, and in Barcelona, the French driver spoke about how difficult it was for him to cope with the loss of the podium.

      Pierre Gasly: "At the moment I crossed the finish line, I already knew about the penalty, but after a perfectly executed race, the emotions were overwhelming. I was very proud of how we worked together as a team. I crossed the finish line third, and third place means a podium, so I just wanted to live that moment and let all the emotions out.

      I think, if we talk purely about the sporting side, it was the hardest day of my career in Formula 1 and in sports in general. I don't mean the events of 2019 and the death of Antoine Hubert; I'm only talking about the sporting aspect.

      It was incredibly hard to cope with the loss of the podium, as I had a very strong weekend. Since childhood, I have watched Formula 1 and the legendary Monaco Grand Prix. For a Frenchman, this race has a special significance, and I have yet to stand on the podium in this race.

      I know that I am quite an emotional person, but everything I felt after the finish turned out to be a very challenging experience. If you drive for a team that fights for podiums at almost every race, the situation looks different. You quickly leave the failure behind, arrive at the next race, and fight again for a top-three finish or victory.

      I haven't had such a car at my disposal yet, so I understand that the opportunity to stand on the podium may come once a year, once every two years, or several times in a season. But when such a chance arises, I want to take advantage of it.

      It was a special track and a special result. Undoubtedly, it was one of the hardest moments of my career. At the same time, it helped me understand a lot about myself and taught me how to deal with such situations, but this experience was definitely not pleasant.

      Speaking of speed, we had a nearly flawless weekend. Together with the team, we did everything right. I managed to overtake Lando Norris at the first start and Isaac Hajar at the second. So from a performance standpoint, we can truly be proud of what we achieved in Monaco.

      I definitely needed a few days to recover. The weekend in Monaco is very intense both on and off the track. Driving requires enormous energy expenditure, and when you add a high level of adrenaline and everything that happened after the race, it becomes very difficult to process it all.

      Monday and Tuesday were tough, but now I feel good and fully focused on the upcoming race."