“I called for Inters on lap one as we had nothing to lose” – Pierre Gasly

Pierre Gasly made up six places from his grid slot in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, with his immediate switch to the intermediate Pirelli paying early dividends.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri driver started seventeenth after missing out on advancing out of Q1 due to a failure to get a final lap in after the red flag for debris, ironically caused by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.

However, he was able to make early gains thanks to his pit stop for intermediate tyres at the Circuit de Monaco, although a delay on the switch to dry tyres prevented him from moving into the points-paying positions.

Nevertheless, Gasly was happy with the result in Monaco, although he admits he could and should have been in the points after showing strong pace all through the practice sessions, only to be caught out in Qualifying.

“We started seventeenth and finished eleventh, so considering Monaco and the track layout, I think we can be happy with this today,” said Gasly.  “When I saw the rain on the grid I had a massive smile on my face, as I knew it was our opportunity to try something different and to hopefully move forward.

“We took some risks today, I called for Inters on lap one as we had nothing to lose. We managed to pass some cars, as the pace was there, and I must say from inside the cockpit this was really exciting.

“It was obviously tricky, sliding all over the place, but it was really fun, you were driving on the limit and that’s what Formula 1 is all about!

“We were fast in all the practice sessions, and even in the race today, so it’s a shame to be finishing just outside the points, as I think we deserved to be up there this weekend.”

“It’s been a frustrating day” – Yuki Tsunoda

Team-mate Tsunoda had a frustrating day in Monaco, with the Japanese racer losing ground in the early stages before ending the day seventeenth and last of the classified finishers.

Tsunoda lost ground in the early laps and was only sixteenth – having started eleventh – when the red flags flew for Mick Schumacher’s crash. 

A gamble to restart on the medium tyre at the restart also did not pay off, with another trip to the pits necessary late on, which left him at the back with no hope of points.

“It’s been a frustrating day, I didn’t have a good start and was P16 before the red flag, I need to go away and look at what happened there,” said Tsunoda.

“The pace of the car was ok in the race, we gambled a bit on the Medium tyre for the restart and unfortunately that strategy didn’t pay off today.”

Yuki Tsunoda finished seventeenth in Monaco – Credit: Eric Alonso/Getty Images