Formula 1: Pierre Gasly finally beats Max Verstappen

It came with a little (okay, a lot of) help from Sebastian Vettel, but Pierre Gasly has finally beaten teammate Max Verstappen in the 2019 Formula 1 season.

Entering the 10th race on the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 schedule, the British Grand Prix, at Silverstone Circuit, the only driver who had not yet beaten his teammate this season was Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Pierre Gasly.

Gasly entered this race with just one top five finish, a fifth place finish, in the first nine races, and as a result of an overall lack of performance in his first season driving for the Milton Keynes-based team, he has found himself on the hot seat heading into Silly Season.

Meanwhile, teammate Max Verstappen entered this race having not finished a single race lower than fifth place this season.

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During a safety car period in this 52-lap race around the 18-turn, 3.661-mile (5.892-kilometer) Silverstone Circuit road course in Silverstone in part Northamptonshire and part Buckinghamshire in England, United Kingdom, Verstappen made a second pit stop for new tires after having just came into the pits.

Gasly, who did not come into the pits during this safety car period, ran in fourth place ahead of Verstappen in fifth when the race got back underway, but in a few laps, Verstappen got around his teammate. Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who restarted the race in sixth, then passed Gasly for fifth.

Verstappen then closed the gap to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in third place, and he made the pass for third on lap 38, putting him in a position to secure a podium finish three positions ahead of Gasly.

Then this happened.

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1150423024392396800

Fortunately for Verstappen, he was able to get back onto the track without much damage in fifth place, but Vettel’s chances of a decent finish were shot. Additionally, he was issued a 10-second time penalty for causing this collision, and he had to settle for 16th, the second to last position among the drivers who were not forced to retire from this race.

But Leclerc and Gasly both shot past these two drivers following this wreck. Leclerc shot to third place while Gasly shot to fourth.

Verstappen was able to slightly close the gap to Gasly throughout the remaining 14 laps of the race, but Gasly ultimately ended up finishing 4.766 seconds ahead of his teammate in fourth place, which also tied his career-high finish.

Gasly also finished in fourth place in last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso, effectively the Red Bull Racing junior team.

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Will Pierre Gasly’s win over teammate Max Verstappen, despite how it happened, give him the momentum he needs moving forward throughout the remaining 11 races of the 2019 Formula 1 season to work himself off the hot seat? This result certainly won’t hurt his case, but it will be interesting to see if he can continue to have success.

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