Pierre Gasly had a lot of missed calls to get back to after his stunning win at the Italian Grand Prix, including one from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Gasly became France’s first grand prix winner in 24 years at Monza, claiming an astonishing victory at a topsy-turvy race blown wide open by a Lewis Hamilton penalty and mid-race red flag. He revealed after the race Macron had been one of the people to reach out for a congratulatory call.
When asked an hour after the race if he had spoken to his girlfriend or parents, he told Sky Sports: « I didn’t even have time to speak to them.
« I just saw the French president just called me now! Emmanuel Macron just called me. I need to call him back! I didn’t have one second at the moment so I’ll take the time now. »
ESPN understands Gasly and Macron did speak later on Sunday evening.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who won two races in 2019, is occasionally mistaken as French, but he was born and raised in the principality of Monaco and races under that flag. The previous French F1 win had been Olivier Panis’ surprise victory at the Monaco Grand Prix in 1996.
Gasly, who claimed a first F1 podium finish at the Brazilian Grand Prix last year, sat atop Monza’s famous podium after Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll had left and spent a moment soaking it in.
Although he regretted Monza being empty of spectators he said he was keen to make sure the moment did not pass him by too quickly.
« I didn’t want to leave, you never know in these guys of moments, how many times you are going to be able to enjoy these kind of times. I wished we could have had all the Tifosi in all the grandstands, full of people, because that’s probably one of the best races to be on the podium, right up there.
« Obviously 2020 style is a bit different, but nevertheless I wanted to sit down, take a moment for myself to go through the thoughts that were crossing my mind and just enjoy that moment. »
Gasly’s win capped off a remarkable 18 months, which saw him promoted to and then demoted from the senior Red Bull team. At last year’s Belgian Grand Prix childhood friend Anthoine Hubert was killed in a crash at the F2 support race, a loss Gasly reflected on at the return to Spa-Francorchamps the week before the Italian Grand Prix.
https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/29829161/new-f1-winner-gasly-congratulated-france-president-macon
