What happens on track stays on track. And drivers don’t usually tend to hold grudges off it. During the first part of qualifying yesterday, Alpine driver Pierre Gasly was impeded while on a fast lap by Carlos Sainz. That was his final attempt to get into Q2, but because of the incident with Sainz, he had to abort the lap, effectively losing out on his chance at Q2. Carlos Sainz received a three-place grid penalty for impeding, so instead of starting the race in P8, he’ll be starting in P11.  

Since drivers don’t hold grudges, you would think Gasly would’ve let it go. But that didn’t happen, as was revealed during the Drivers’ Parade before the Canadian GP. The Parade is a customary event that happens before every race. The parade gives drivers an opportunity to experience the atmosphere on track with all the fans around because once they’re strapped into their cars, the only thing they focus on is racing. Although, besides enjoying this atmosphere, Gasly poked fun at Sainz for his big qualifying error.

When asked about his starting position and chances in the race, Gasly decided to engage in playful banter. The organizers of the Drivers’ Parade cheekily—knowingly or unknowingly—had Carlos right in front of Pierre, which urged Pierre to say, “Carlos was again blocking us right now. I think he should get another 3-place grid penalty.”

That had his interviewer, the fans on track, and Twitter users in splits; their Twitter reactions were gold.

“Sassy” Pierre Gasly had fans in splits with his banter

Pierre Gasly has always been considered funny by his fans. Whether what he said during the Drivers’ Parade was lighthearted or coated with a hint of disapproval, fans on Twitter didn’t hold back while sharing their thoughts on what Gasly said.

One fan was all for Gasly calling out Carlos for impeding him. According to them, F1 needs this emotion on the grid. 

Another user called him “sassy” for throwing shade at Carlos, no matter how funnily he meant it.

While most fans loved his banter, a few asked him to let it go and move on. In short tracks like Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, drivers are bound to meet with traffic during qualifying.

Read More: Pierre Gasly’s “Unfortunate” Disaster Forces Alpine to Deploy Stern Steps to Iron Out Costly Mistakes

And getting out of the way of other drivers while also concentrating on your next lao is difficult. So, according to the fans, holding on to it doesn’t make sense.

Another user called Pierre out for being in danger or a race suspension himself. After the incident, Gasly appealed to his team, saying that Sainz should be banned for impeding him while he was approaching at 300 km/h. While Gasly’s record of penalty points was recently cleared of two, he is now four points away from a race ban, which is still pretty bad.

While users were either supporting Gasly’s comment or asking him to let it go, one user portrayed what Yuki Tsunoda (almost impeded by Sainz as well) and Gasly would look like at the parade through a picture.

What do you think? Did Gasly mean what he said lightheartedly, or was there a hint of a grudge in his statement?

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