\n\t\u201cI\u2019m based in Milan and Taylor was in Milan, and I found out that Charles was going [to the show] with his girlfriend, so we ended up watching from the same place together,\u201d Gasly says. \u201cThat was the last big concert I went to and it was spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tGasly is recounting his VIP story from a VVIP suite inside The Venetian Resort Las Vegas<\/a>, three days before he takes to the grid for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix<\/a>. If attending the Eras Tour concert<\/a> was a 2024 highlight, the Sin City stop on the F1 circuit marked an equally big moment for the driver that year, after he qualified a career-best third for the evening race under the lights of the Strip. A few weeks prior, the driver had achieved a memorable Alpine double-podium with then-teammate Esteban Ocon at the S\u00e3o Paulo race in Brazil<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tFor someone who spends each weekend pulling hairpin turns around a winding asphalt track at 220 miles per hour, Las Vegas has a certain appeal that seemingly caters to his competitive nature. Still, the 29-year-old has yet to hit the jackpot.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI remember playing some blackjack the first year [F1 was in Vegas] and I left with a loss,\u201d Gasly tells Rolling Stone. \u201cAnd on top of that, I remember going to the airport and when I opened my bag, I had these $100 and $200 Venetian chips still in my bag. I was like, \u2018What the heck am I going to do with that?\u2019 It\u2019s now been two years and they are sitting in my home in a cabinet somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCould the driver find those chips from The Venetian and bring them back for good luck? \u201cI\u2019ve got to remember that, because this is one of the biggest races for me,\u201d he replies, nodding in agreement. \u201cI\u2019m usually not a big gambler,\u201d he adds, \u201cthough last year, I left Vegas with a bit of profit.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt seems like things are looking up for the F1 star already.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGregoire Truchet<\/p>\n \n\tThe youngest of five brothers, Gasly found his confidence through driving, entering the karting circuit at the age of 10, and rising quickly through the ranks to become the European Championship runner-up a few years later. He joined Red Bull\u2019s Junior Program in 2014 \u2013 finishing runner-up in Formula Renault 3.5 to Carlos Sainz \u2013 and then moved onto the GP2 circuit, winning the 2016 GP2 Series title with Prema Racing. In 2017, Gasly made his F1 debut with Toro Rosso (which became AlphaTauri) and he was promoted to the Red Bull team two years later. Then, back at AlphaTauri, the Rouen native secured his maiden F1 win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, making the first win for a French driver in F1 since 1996. Gasly moved to the BWT Alpine Formula One Team in 2023, and has now assumed the role of veteran, leading the charge for Alpine alongside 22-year-old Argentine star, Franco Colapinto.<\/p>\n \n\tAlpine\u2019s results over the last few years have been mixed, to put it mildly, and Gasly doesn\u2019t mince words when discussing the struggles with his car. \u201cThis year has been very difficult for us in terms of performance,\u201d he admits, calling it \u201cprobably the toughest season of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAside from the issues on the track, Gasly has also been thrust into the spotlight as the face of Alpine, and still learning to navigate public scrutiny on social media and in the press. The driver was just 21 when he arrived on the Formula One circuit, and he says one of the most exciting periods of his life was also one of the most trying.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAfter my first season, I got promoted to Red Bull, and it\u2019s very rare for someone to join the big team after only six months in Formula One,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt like I was put on a pedestal very quickly and no one ever taught me how to manage the public exposure and how to deal with those sorts of situations that are out of your control.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tI ask Gasly to elaborate and he pauses briefly to gather his thoughts. While the driver was heralded as a rising new talent when he joined Red Bull Racing for the start of the 2019 season, he was demoted back to Toro Rosso after the summer break, before the season was even finished. For an eager racer that was hailed as \u201cone of the most exciting young drivers in motorsport\u201d by then-Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, the demotion was a blow to his self-confidence, and clouded his bright-eyed view of the sport. Gasly doesn\u2019t want to seem ungrateful or offend anyone, but it\u2019s clear his early years in F1 left him a little unnerved.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAt the start, it was all nice and bright and positive and funny, and then in the space of one year, there was a massive switch,\u201d he finally says. \u201cIt was something I would have never imagined, in terms of the media coverage and the sort of toxicity I received during this time. It was a bit confusing to me, trying to understand how some people could judge you without knowing you as a person and just based on the job you\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThen, he adds: \u201cI was just 21 years old, so I was quite fresh and still trying to figure myself out.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tPierre Gasly is seen testing for Infiniti Red Bull Racing at Formula 1<\/a> Testing at Circuit de Catalunya on May 13, 2015 in Montmelo, Spain.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty Images<\/p>\n \n\tGasly says the hardest part during that time was seeing how the comments and criticisms were affecting his family. \u201cI think what was more difficult for me was to see the people I care about, that made huge sacrifices to get me to where I am today, being affected by this negativity that I was surrounded with,\u201d he says. \u201cAt the end of the day, that\u2019s just the life of an athlete and stuff I have to accept, but I was more bothered that it would affect my parents and my brothers, which wasn\u2019t fair.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThese days, Gasly says he also feels more pressure than ever to defend his Alpine family, and shield them from the negative noise. \u201cIt\u2019s quite tough, because I\u2019ve got to keep the team up and I\u2019ve got to keep the spirit up,\u201d he says. \u201cI need to make sure that the 100 guys that work at the track and also the 1,500 people that are back at the factory, are all motivated and know that we are in a position to fight for the front of the grid.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tFrom the outside looking in, the 2025 season may not have inspired much confidence in the Alpine car moving forward: the team finished last in the Constructors\u2019 Championship with just 22 points, and while all of the points were earned by Gasly, it also marked the driver\u2019s lowest points total since his debut year. But as he enters his tenth season on the F1 circuit, and having recently signed a contract<\/a> to remain with the BWT Alpine Formula One Team through 2028, Gasly says he is finally learning how to balance the expectations of others with asserting himself and his own voice, something that he believes will help him both on and off the track. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think that\u2019s kind of my approach in my sport, but also in my life right now, that when I know it\u2019s going to be a sort of negative place, I just don\u2019t put my head into it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s something I figured out along the journey, accepting that you will have massive supporters and massive fans backing you up, and you\u2019re going to have some people that are just neutral, and some others that are not on your side, even if you don\u2019t really know the reason why,\u201d he continues. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve learned is that I have zero interest in having any sort of negativity in my life. I\u2019m working so hard, I\u2019ve made all these sacrifices, and I know exactly what I want. And if there is any sort of negativity, I just shut the door. I don\u2019t need that. At the end of the day, I have my people around me, and they are the ones I care about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGregoire Truchet<\/p>\n \n\tAside from his girlfriend Francisca (Kika) Gomes, who Gasly has been dating for three years, the thing the driver cares most about right now is Simba, the couple\u2019s toy poodle that they brought home in 2024. After every race, Gasly says he always looks forward to coming home to Simba, who is loving and attentive, no matter the results from the track.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI must say, that\u2019s probably the best way to relax after a race, coming back and just chilling with my dog,\u201d Gasly says, face visibly lighting up. \u201cThe love you get from a dog is just unreal. So it doesn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re having a good or bad day, he is always so happy to have you back home, and that\u2019s definitely a nice way to end a race day.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tSports<\/a> have also been a way for Gasly to unwind off the track. In 2024, Gasly bought an ownership stake in a French soccer team, becoming a joint shareholder of the semi-professional football club, FC Versailles. The team currently plays in the third division of the French football league system, but Gasly is hopeful that they\u2019ll be promoted up the ranks in the years to come. <\/p>\n \t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tAlpine Racing F1 2025 Pierre Gasly Team T-Shirt\t\t<\/p>\n \n\tLike many of the other F1 drivers, Gasly has also been known to play a lot of padel. And he leads a run every year at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium to honor his close friend, Anthoine Hubert, who died in a Formula 2 crash there in 2019.<\/p>\n \n\tCurrently though, Gasly has been obsessed with perfecting his golf game. \u201cI find golf very relaxing, because you\u2019re outdoors in nature and you\u2019re just facing off against yourself,\u201d he explains, expressing disappointment that a recent course booking in Vegas was canceled after an unexpected storm rolled in. \u201cI also like that it\u2019s very different from what I do,\u201d he adds. \u201cIn F1, you\u2019re dependent on the car, but when you\u2019re on the [golf] course, it\u2019s just you and your clubs, and I find that quite cool.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGregoire Truchet<\/p>\n \n\tThe Alpine publicist interrupts to say we only have a few minutes left to chat. Speaking of sports, Gasly is set to attend the Vegas Golden Knights hockey game tonight, and he still has to shower and get ready, having come to this interview straight from a workout. He\u2019ll later be seen donning a Golden Knights jersey and posing for photos with players backstage at T-Mobile Arena, recapping his night on Instagram.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-rollingstone-2022\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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