‘Artist’ Pierre Gasly found a creative way to pass Daniel Ricciardo

Pierre Gasly said he felt like an “artist” when he overtook Daniel Ricciardo during the Monaco Grand Prix.

Having suffered a shock exit in Q1 during qualifying, Gasly had work to do if he was going to salvage a respectable finish in Monte Carlo.

Given the extra freedom that being at the back provides, the AlphaTauri driver could be bold and was the first to switch to the intermediate tyres. Having initially struggled for grip, he was then able to advance his way up the field.

He passed Zhou Guanyu on the inside of Mirabeau before targeting Ricciardo’s 12th-place position.

Gasly thought about making the move on the Australian going into Tabac but decided against it. However, it was not long until he did indeed go for the overtake.

Heading into the first corner of Swimming Pool Complex, Gasly passed on the inside whilst being able to get better traction going into the following corners.

Gasly himself said that at a track like Monaco, you have to be creative when it comes to overtakes and said the move on Ricciardo made him feel like an artist.

“It was pretty tight, but I was so much faster than these guys, I just needed to calm myself,” Gasly said, as reported by motorsport.com.

“I’d caught them so quickly, and then after you are like, OK, I want to pass, but it’s like if the guy is defending well, suddenly you’ve got no space on the right, no space on the left.

“Then you have to be creative. That’s what I tried to do. At the end of the day, F1 drivers, we are kind of artists, we need to find always new ideas.

“I tried to come up with unusual places to overtake, and that worked out, so I’m pleased with that.”

The move was seen as a sign that it was time for the majority of the drivers to switch to the inters from the full wets but Gasly admitted that he had wondered if they had made a mistake when he first exited the pit lane. The 26-year-old said he did not know “how many times I almost crashed” but was able to pull it…