Formula 1: Too much being made over Pierre Gasly’s 4th place finish?

Pierre Gasly finished in fourth place in the British Grand Prix. But is too much being made over the finish that tied his career-best in Formula 1?

Ever since Pierre Gasly made his debut at Aston Martin Red Bull Racing to open up the 2019 Formula 1 season, he has justifiably been on the hot seat, as his performances have been nowhere near up to par, much less to the standard set by teammate Max Verstappen.

But after starting the season with just three top six finishes in the first nine races, Gasly tied his career-high fourth place finish in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit two weekends ago.

His only previous fourth place finish was his fourth place finish in last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix when he was in his rookie season driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso, the Red Bull Racing junior team from which he was promoted to replace the Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo ahead of the 2019 season.

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A lot has been made over the 23-year-old Frenchman effectively breaking his dry spell with a solid showing for the Milton Keynes-based team, especially since he finished ahead of Verstappen in fifth place for the first team as his teammate.

But is too much being made over it?

Absolutely.

Gasly has still not yet finished ahead of any of the other five Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, Scuderia Ferrari or Red Bull Racing drivers due to his pace in any race this season.

He finished in what was a season-high fifth place in the Monaco Grand Prix, but that was because Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was forced to retire after damaging his car in his frantic rush from the back of the grid to what he had hoped would end up being the front.

Gasly’s fourth place finish came in similar fashion.

Verstappen and Leclerc both made their second pit stops during the safety car period on lap 20 of the 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.

As a result, Gasly restarted the race in fourth place as opposed to sixth. He started in fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in sixth, although Vettel was able to work his way around him.

Verstappen and Leclerc both got around Gasly after the restart, and even had they been on older tires, they likely would have done the same.

Verstappen pulled away from the pair and caught up to Vettel in third place. After the 21-year-old Dutchman worked his way around the 32-year-old German for third on lap 38, this happened.

With a damaged car, Verstappen still stayed in fifth place and worked his way back to within 4.766 seconds of Gasly for fourth, and even with that damaged car, he likely would have gotten around him had the race lasted a few more laps, as Gasly fell to 4.575 seconds behind Leclerc even after only slightly trailing him for several laps, which you can see in the video as the pair made their way around the crash site.

When Gasly finally beats another Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing driver in a race that doesn’t involve this other driver or drivers being involved in some sort of incident, then the hype will be justified.

Yes, Pierre Gasly deserves a good bit of credit for staying out of trouble when others haven’t been able to — just look at how Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton has earned six of his 18 victories since the start of the 2018 season.

But the fact that this is the only reason why he has recorded his two top five finishes through the first 10 races of the 21-race season driving for one of Formula 1‘s three top-tier teams is still very alarming whether he just tied his career-high finish or not. His fourth place finish in the British Grand Prix can certainly still serve as a massive confidence booster moving forward, but too much is being made over it by itself.

Gasly will look to secure the first podium finish of his Formula 1 career in this Sunday’s German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring. This race is set to be broadcast live on ESPN beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET.