Gasly approach unchanged despite AlphaTauri team leader status

AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly has insisted he will not change his approach to Formula 1 this season despite becoming the senior figure at a team for the first time in his career.

Gasly is joined by rookie Yuki Tsunoda this year after the Japanese driver was promoted following an impressive debut season in Formula 2 last campaign.

As AlphaTauri aims to improve on the successes of last season, Gasly has announced his approach will remain unchanged despite his new status at the team.

"[Tsunoda's] arrival doesn’t really change my approach," he said. "It will be the same as last year, when we got the most out of what we had to work with at pretty much all the Grand Prix, apart from one or two.

"So, we must keep going with the same philosophy, as I really believe last year was the team’s best in terms of the way it worked, the development, the performance and in the way it managed the race weekends.

"I think that goes for me too and we just have to keep going like this to try and do a little bit better than we did last year.”

Gasly's position as team leader comes at the beginning of his fourth season in F1 after the Frenchman fought back from the despair of losing his Red Bull seat midway through the 2019 season.

Last year Gasly took advantage of a chaotic Italian Grand Prix to score his maiden victory, a result that was pivotal in securing the team's largest points haul to date.

Gasly believes his new team-mate has what it takes to continue the team's upward trend and push the team to the front of the mid-field battle.

“Of course, Yuki’s arrival means I will have more responsibility within the team and I’m ready to take on the role of team leader," he added.

"However, he is a very quick driver and he will help us move the team forward. I know Yuki, he is a competitive guy and showed what he can do in F2, that’s why he was promoted to F1 after just one year.

"We will work together to achieve [moving the team forward]. He lacks experience, so it won’t always be easy for him, but I think he is talented and it will also be up to me and the team to lead the way."

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