Gasly’s ‘strange’ feeling racing at Spa with ‘images I’d rather never have seen’

Pierre Gasly revealed it feels “very strange” racing at Spa as on the one hand there’s the excitement of racing on the track and on the other, the memories of Anthoine Hubert’s fatal crash.

Hubert was involved in a multi-car accident on the second lap of the Formula 2 feature race and died as a result of his injuries.

Pierre Gasly: But now it’s reality

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Heading through Eau Rouge and towards Raidillon, Giuliano Alesi lost control of his Trident and spun into the barriers with Hubert having to take avoiding action as others slowed, only to clip the Trident and lose his front wing.

Crashing into the tyre barrier with momentum pushing him back towards the track but still in the run-off area, Juan Manuel Correa speared into Hubert’s car as damage to his Charouz meant he couldn’t steer effectively.

The race was red flag with Hubert and Correa taken to the circuit’s medical centre where the Frenchman died of his injuries. Correa was transported to hospital having suffered severe leg injuries.

It was a moment that changed Gasly‘s perspective of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

“It’s a beautiful track,” the Alpine driver said of Spa as he spoke with the media, including PlanetF1.com, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. “It’s always been one of my favourites, I had my first single-seater victory here in Formula 4. A

“Always looked forward to coming here for all these years, and since 2019 something has changed, obviously drastically in the sort of feeling and the emotions I get coming here.

“So it’s always a very strange one like that. You can’t really describe it, between the excitement of being on the track and obviously the memories that come with it.

“But at the end of the day, I just try to use this as extra strength and just get some more power and strength out of it.

“But, yeah, it’s an interesting one.”

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He added as per Motorsport.com: “Every time I come back here, I have images in my head that I would rather never have seen. But now it’s reality.

“I’m trying to use all these emotions that are a bit strange for me in a positive way and as a strength.”

The Eau Rouge-Raidillon sequence saw further big accidents in 2022 when Lando Norris crashed heavily in qualifying while there was also a horrific six-car accident in that year’s W Series qualifying session.

A year later, the track claimed the life of 18-year-old Dilano van’t Hoff when he was involved in a multi-car collision during a wet Formula Regional European Championship race.

Spa has reworked the run-off areas in the Eau Rouge and Raidillon combination, expanding it on both sides.

However, Gasly fears it may not be enough to prevent another huge accident especially in the wet.

“I think over the years, the corner has changed in the fact that, with this year’s car on the dry, people are very impressed, but it’s very easy,” he said.

“Now, when it comes to the wet, then it becomes one of the most challenging corner of the season. So it very depends on the conditions, I think at the moment.

“Considering next year’s regulation, loss of downforces, then probably it’s going to become again a very tricky corner.

“Depending on that fine line that’s between making it very easy where don’t necessarily need a lot of run-off because I could do it with one hand and be fine, or being on the wet and going through there at 300 kph, and there is a very likelihood that you can lose the car and have a big, big incident, then makes it quite tricky in terms of, like run-off and what’s there at the minute.”

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