Tost tells AlphaTauri to ‘celebrate in December’

Jamie Woodhouse
Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly

AlphaTauri principal Franz Tost said his team can celebrate their Monza victory in December when the season is over.

In 2008, when Sebastian Vettel won the Italian Grand Prix for Toro Rosso, Formula 1 knew it was seeing the making of a special talent.

Vettel’s triumph had remained the only win the team’s history, that was until 2020 when Pierre Gasly claimed an eerily similar victory.

It was his first win in Formula 1, just like it was for Vettel back in 2008, and the second win for the team, now known as AlphaTauri, which came on home soil again.

P1 for Gasly and AlphaTauri was a much-need breath of fresh air for Formula 1, but Tost was keen to keep his crew’s collective feet firmly on the ground.

If they want to celebrate, then they can do it in the off-season in December.

“There is no celebration for the team,” he told reporters at Monza.

“They should prepare everything because we have to go to Mugello, that is the next race.

“That is much more important, they can celebrate in December. There is no celebration, forget it.”

Get your hands on the official AlphaTauri 2020 collection via the Formula 1 store

Gasly’s win has reignited talk that he could return to Red Bull, but Tost is “optimistic” that the Frenchman will stay with his “family”.

“If we lose him, it means the team did a good job because otherwise, they [Red Bull] wouldn’t take him,” he said.

“Currently, I am quite optimistic he will stay with us. He is very motivated. He was already last year when he came back from Red Bull.

“He came into my office and we greeted each other and he said he feels like he was here yesterday, that it is his family.

“He liked the car we had already last year, we had a competitive car and then from Spa onwards he improved his performance.

“In Sao Paolo [Brazilian Grand Prix last year] he finished in second place, that was also a good fight against [Lewis] Hamilton and here he drove a really brilliant race because he was in the lead and he controlled it.”

Whilst there is no denying that the crazy circumstances of Monza played a part in Gasly’s win, the way that the 24-year-old drove to victory and coped with the late threat of Carlos Sainz spoke volumes about his confidence and race craft.

Torquing Point - Gasly Wins

Finley and Michelle from www.planetf1.com podcast 'Torquing Point' discuss a huge, and unexpected, win for Gasly.

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