Gasly "dying inside the car" as "stabbing" pain blights Saudi Arabian GP

Pierre Gasly was left "screaming in pain" and felt like he was "dying inside the car" during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Gasly finished eighth to register his first points of the season having retired late in F1's season-opener in Bahrain.

The AlphaTauri driver fought back from misfortune when pitting just before the safety car was deployed for Williams driver Nicholas Latifi's crash, eventually finishing behind Lando Norris in the McLaren.

After qualifying on Saturday, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen revealed to having struggled with their necks due to the intense forces of the high-speed Jeddah layout.

Explaining his own difficulties across the 50-lap grand prix duration, Gasly said: “I don’t know what’s happened with my intestine, but I was dying inside the car.

"I was screaming because of pain and just happy the race is done, and we managed to secure P8.”

“I feel like every left turn someone was stabbing me on the inside, on my intestine, so it was not nice”.

The result has moved Gasly level with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda on four points with the Japanese driver unable to take to the start in Jeddah having stopped on track on his reconnaissance lap to the grid.

Reviewing his race, Gasly added: "I must say I am really happy.

“It was very unlucky timing with the pitstop, when we boxed, as soon as I came out of the pits, I saw the safety car came out, so I dropped to 14th.

“We managed to make our way back to P8, so yeah, I think we can be happy and on my side, it’s been the most painful last 15 laps of my career."

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