Pierre Gasly is quick off the grid and laughing already. It’s the eve of the British Grand Prix and Gasly, who will drive at Silverstone for his team BWT Alpine, is dreaming there will be an opportunity to pursue a podium finish.
But the reason for his chuckles revolve around another dream. The Frenchman is a huge Paris Saint-Germain fan and we are talking in the backroom of the club’s official store on Oxford Street, where he’s just helped unveil next season’s sparkling white away kit.
So it begs the question: will this jersey be the one PSG are wearing if they end their relentless quest to win the Champions League? It turns out this very subject had been a source of debate as he was being driven through the streets of London.
‘You can name all the superstars – Messi, Neymar, Mbappe. I’ve supported every single season and I will always support the team, no matter what. But this is football, anything can happen. Look at the Euros… as much as we like to predict the outcome of matches, how can we be sure?
Pierre Gasly is a huge Paris Saint-Germain fan and has supported them since he was five
Gasly is a good friend of French star Kylian Mbappe, who has left PSG to join Real Madrid
‘That’s the beauty of sport – anything is possible. So long as you get a shot, you have to believe in it. Maybe, then, next year will be the one for the Champions League trophy.’
Such is Gasly’s obsession with football, he became a co-owner of the semi-professional team FC Versailles in March. There was a point in his childhood when he hoped football might become a career but, once he got behind the wheel of a car, there was only one vocation to pursue.
It was the right decision and has seen him become a star in Formula One, winning the 2020 Italian Grand Prix. But wherever he is in the world, his thoughts are never far from PSG and he becomes animated when discussing his hero, the Portuguese goal machine Pauleta.
‘It’s tough but if I need to pick one out, it will be Pauleta,’ he explains. ‘I looked up to him when I was a kid. I played football from when I was five until I was 11 and Pauleta was very iconic. Then I had to take a decision between football and racing, basically. I think I picked the right sport for my life!’
Football, though, is a hot topic of debate on the grid at present. The European drivers whose teams still have the potential to win the Championship in Germany are busying telling one another why they are going to be the ones victorious in Berlin on Sunday week.
France, really, should be at the heart of it all but they are waiting to click into gear. Gasly’s good friend Kylian Mbappe has yet to burst into life but surely there will come a point when their foot goes to the floor?
‘We have a ridiculous team,’ the 28-year-old says. ‘Each individual is a top player. It makes it so very exciting because you know any one of them, at any moment, can turn the game around. I know Kylian well. We’ve met a couple of times at games, a couple of times on the grid in F1.
Gasly singled out former PSG forward Pauleta as his footballing hero, describing him as ‘iconic’
The F1 driver was speaking at Silverstone ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix
‘He was in Monaco recently. But so far, I must say, we’ve not been able to score. I’m a very humble supporter, I have no idea why or how.’
This sounds very much like England. But who knows? It could yet turn out that the World Cup quarter-final in December 2022 was actually a rehearsal for the European Championship final of 2024 – the two nations, who play Portugal and Switzerland this weekend, remain on course to meet.
‘Ha! Yes! I watch most of the England games,’ he replies. ‘It is unbelievable. You see all these players, all these incredible players, but it doesn’t guarantee success in a tournament. But then it is very exciting. Hopefully (France) can bring it back home.
‘But there is Spain – dangerous. Germany – dangerous. Even teams like Netherlands, Turkey. We can’t predict the Euros and that is what makes it exciting. But that would be the ideal scenario, right? England and France in the final? That would definitely force me to fly to Germany.’
