Gasly after crash: "At first I didn't know how serious it was"

Pierre Gasly had a very disappointing Saturday in Monza. The Frenchman nudged the rear of Daniel Ricciardo in the first chicane, breaking his front wing. Gasly did not realise how extensive the damage was until he went into the gravel.

Gasly's Saturday in Italy went downright badly. A light tap on the back of Ricciardo's McLaren caused his front wing to come off, but Gasly didn't immediately notice the damage. As the Frenchman drove at high speed in the Curva Grande, the wing broke off and shot under the front wheels of his AlphaTauri. He ended up in the tyre wall, but was able to get out unharmed.

“I’m obviously very disappointed, it’s not been a good day. We had a great start on the Mediums, I managed to pass Lando, and also Lewis. Then at the first corner I was a bit surprised by Daniel, I touched the back of him a little bit and damaged the front-wing," he revealed in a press release from his team.

"I didn’t initially know how bad it was, but it broke off completely and went under the car at Turn 3, I couldn’t turn anymore and went straight into the wall. The target tomorrow is of course to try and get into the points," he added. A repeat of the fairytale of 2020 seems out of the question for Gasly. Back then, he managed to take his first Grand Prix victory at Monza.