Gasly "thought we were in the wall" in Perez F1 Belgian GP overtake
AlphaTauri Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly says he "thought we were in the wall" when he pulled off a spectacular overtake on Sergio Perez in the Belgian Grand Prix
Gasly pulled off a pass on the Mexican on the run down the hill from La Source to Eau Rouge, and just managed to squeeze through on the right as the gap between the Racing Point and the support paddock pit barrier closed.
The move was one of several that Gasly made during a charge to eighth place that also won him the Driver of the Day vote.
He was the only driver to start on the hard tyres, and along with Perez was one of only two who opted to stay out on the alternate strategy, when the F1 pack pitted under the safety car for the crash involving Antonio Giovinazzi and George Russell.
After the race Gasly recalled the moment with Perez and feared they were about to clash on the entry to Eau Rouge.
"Honestly I thought we were in the wall," Gasly said to Sky Sports F1. "I'm not kidding, I was inside, I was like I can't move more than that. And at that point we're probably going 280 or 300km/h.
"Sergio really squeezed me, which made me even more like I'm not gonna lift, I'm gonna make this work. And it was tight.
"Sergio is a hard racer, I knew it but there for sure. My heartbeat went slightly high when he started to squeeze me, but I was committed and I was like, there is no way I'm gonna lift, I'm gonna make this move work, and it was a great one."
Asked if he assessed who he was racing and whether that becomes a factor, Gasly said he didn't alter his approach because he "always expect respect from everyone" during on-track battles.
"You know where the limit is, and you always expect respect from everyone," he said. "And also, you know where the line is, and you should not cross it. And that was borderline, but in the end was there was the space for one car."
Gasly also said opting to start the race on the hard tyres made his opening stint a tricky task against rivals around him all on the soft and medium compounds.
"I must say it was a bit difficult initially compared to the other guys with the option [medium], so I tried to keep it clean, stay close to the guys ahead. I was happy to make these two positions on lap one, because we didn't expect that," he said.
"We expected to struggle a bit like the first three laps, and it was the opposite. I felt great. I had quite a lot of pace compared to the other guys and then I straight away went for some moves."
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