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Gasly asked Leclerc to win for Hubert
Pierre Gasly reveals he asked Charles Leclerc to win the Belgian Grand Prix for Anthoine Hubert, the trio having all raced together as younger drivers.
Hubert was killed in a Formula 2 crash on Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps, leading to emotional tributes ahead of Sunday’s grand prix. Leclerc, Gasly, Hubert and Esteban Ocon had all raced together in their junior careers, and with Leclerc starting from pole position, Gasly asked the Ferrari driver to secure victory for their former rival, which he duly did.
“You have to (put it out of your mind) because otherwise you can’t race,” Gasly said. “Once you put the helmet on and go for the formation lap you’re in a different zone and frame of mind, but straight after the checkered flag it was the thing that came into my mind. I’m happy to score these two points.
“I told Charles before the race, please win this race for Anthoine, as we started racing in the same year, Charles, Anthoine and myself, and Anthoine won the French Cup in 2005. We raced for so many years and knew each other. Between Jules (Bianchi) a couple of years ago, and now Anthoine, it’s terrible for French motorsport. They were two amazing characters, and it’s difficult to realize.”
Gasly admitted he was struggling with his emotions before the race as a result of having lost a close friend with whom he had climbed the motorsport ranks.
“I think it was for sure the most emotional pre-race I ever had, because at 22 years old, 23 years old, to live this kind of moments… You lose one your best mates," he said.
“I’ve grown up with these guys since I was seven in karting, we’ve been room-mates, we’ve lived in the same apartment, in the same room, for six years. We’ve been classmates, I’ve studied since I was 13 until 19 with him, with the same professor at a private school that the (French) federation did.
“I’m still shocked. I don’t realize how it can go so fast. It’s terrible. I’ve already planned to see all our friends we had in common with Anthoine tomorrow, as none of us really understand and realize what has happened yesterday.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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