Gasly: Monza ‘a different story’ to Spa for Toro Rosso

Pierre Gasly is doubtful of Toro Rosso’s chances of scoring points on merit in this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, saying it will be “a different story” to last weekend’s race at Spa despite the similarity in track layout.

Gasly battled to an unlikely ninth-place finish in the Belgian Grand Prix last Sunday, in part thanks to a race of attrition that saw a number of faster cars retire from the race. This came despite the weakness of the Honda engine on the high-speed sections of the circuit.

Monza is the fastest track on the F1 calendar, also featuring a number of long straights, but Gasly said he doubted Toro Rosso’s Spa form would translate between the circuits.

“It is going to be a different story, unfortunately. Monza is on anther level compared to Spa,” Gasly said.

“Spa is a power track, but Monza is 80 percent flat out. Except pushing the throttle pedal as hard as we can, it does not make a difference.

“Even if we have improved since the beginning of the year we are still pretty far from Ferrari and Mercedes in terms of straight line speed. On a track like this it is going to be a struggle.

“Still, it doesn’t mean we need to give up. We need to give everything we have and on a track like this especially with Turn 1 anything can happen.

“If there is an opportunity for us and points are possible, even if the probability lower than the other races of the season, we will try everything to get there.

“Clearly the set up for Monza is really specific, so using the rear wing that is only used in Monza. So you always hope that maybe you have done a better job than the others and you can get that extra form that you did not expect.

“But once again when you see how much time we spend at full throttle, it is going to be difficult. But I don’t want to be too pessimistic. In Spa we had a good surprise.

“It is going to be tougher here, but let’s see what we can achieve.”

Gasly will enter the Monza race weekend chasing his third straight F1 points finish, and the Frenchman is hoping to end his difficult record in races at the circuit despite showing good pace over one lap in the past.

“In Monza, the last two years I raced here, I was on pole, so it used to be a really good track for me, especially in GP2,” Gasly said.

“In the race I have always been pretty unlucky. I was leading in 2015 and we broke the driveshaft at the pit stop and the other year I was also leading, and the mistake with the safety car ,I ended up losing the victory.

“So it hasn’t really been my track during the race. but I’ve always been pretty fast around here."