Renamed Italian Formula One team Alpha Tauri on Monday celebrated its maiden win in its revamped version at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Alpha Tauri, which used to be called Toro Rosso, is the Italian
partner of Red Bull.
Its no.1 driver Pierre Gasly won the race from Carlo Sainz Jr in
a McLaren and Lance Stroll in a Racing Point.
It was a bad day for the big guns like Lewis Hamilton's dominant
Mercedes, while long-struggling Ferrari had another wretched day
with both Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc crashing out.
Giancarlo Minardi, founder of the team, based in Faenza in
Emilia Romagna, a hotbed of racing, said: "Yesterday there were
parades of thrilled fans in Faenza and around the works.
The Romagnoli are passionate when they manage to raise their
heads again and there was also a touch o pride with respect to
Ferrari."
Gasly said: "This is amazing! I'm lost for words! It's
unbelievable! I've been through so many things in the past 18
months and it's better than anything I expected. I focused hard
when I re-joined Scuderia AlphaTauri. Day by day, race by race,
we improved ourselves and got stronger and stronger - this team
gave me my first podium in F1 last year in Brazil and today,
these guys gave me my first win in Formula 1, in Italy, in
Monza, with an Italian team. I'm not someone who gives up on
anything, I always fought for everything in my life until I made
it to F1. Today it was a great day! When I was fighting the last
few laps to keep P1, I knew how gutted I would have been if I
had lost it, I wouldn't have been happy with P2. I gave it
everything I had - it was difficult - I pushed hard at the start
of the stint to not give anyone the slipstream behind, then the
last five laps were so intense, I almost shunted 10 times… I was
pushing so hard! My tyres were gone but I wanted that win so
much, it still feels weird to say I'm an F1 race winner. A big
thanks to all of these guys here at the track and at the
factory, in Faenza and Bicester, it's a great day for them too.
Most of them are Italian and the HQ is in Faenza, Italy, so to
win the Italian Grand Prix is amazing. Thank you all."
Alpha Taur said A win involves so many things: sacrifice,
courage, strength, consistency, luck, performance, emotion..but
also facts and figures. Here are a few that are linked to
yesterday's win at Monza for Pierre Gasly, which took Scuderia
AlphaTauri and our AT01 to the top of the world!
Pierre's win came 12 years on from our first Formula 1 win, also
at Monza, with Sebastian Vettel at the wheel of the third car of
our Toro Rosso era, the STR3.
Yesterday was the team's fourth podium finish: after Monza 2008
came a third place for Daniil Kvyat in Germany and a second for
Pierre in Brazil, both in 2019.
The Toro Rosso era that ran from 2006 to 2019 ended with 500
points scored, the cars having covered 135,740 kilometres and
26,972 laps. In the current Scuderia AlphaTauri era, the cars
have done 855 laps, 26 of them in the lead, all of those as
Pierre flew to victory yesterday.
A key contribution to our win in the Italian Grand Prix came
from our Honda power unit. Here are our partner's F1 stats:
Race starts: 450
Wins: 77
Pole Positions: 79
Fastest race laps: 65
Podiums: 139
Front row starts: 123
Races with our team: 50
Yesterday's win was Pierre Gasly's first in F1 and his
second career podium. Pierre was born in Rouen, the Normandy
capital, on 7 February 1996. The last win for a French driver
came in the Monaco Grand Prix that same year, courtesy of
Olivier Panis, when Pierre was just three months old. Here are
some other interesting statistics about our French driver:
GPs started 55
Fastest race laps: 2
Point scored: 167
Laps in the lead: 26
Kms in the lead: 151
Best grid position: P4
F1 debut: Malaysia 2017
This was the 80th F1 win for a French driver. Here are some
French Formula 1 driver stats:
French drivers who have raced in F1: 75
Current French drivers: 3 (Gasly, Grosjean, Ocon)
Races started: 890
Pole Positions: 79
Podiums: 305
Fastest laps: 91
Drivers' World Titles: 4 (Alain Prost)
Drivers who have won: Maurice TRINTIGNANT, François CEVERT,
Jean-Pierre BELTOISE, Jacques LAFFITE, Patrick DEPAILLER,
Jean-Pierre JABOUILLE, René ARNOUX, Didier PIRONI, Alain PROST,
Patrick TAMBAY, Jean ALESI, Olivier PANIS, Pierre GASLY.
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