Gasly keeping his fingers crossed that F1 starts in France

AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly dreams of the F1 season kicking off in France as scheduled, although uncertainty remains on the country's ability to hold its Grand Prix as early as the end of June.

This week's cancellation of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal has set up Paul Ricard as the venue where the curtain could be raised on the disrupted 2020 season.

French Grand Prix director Eric Boullier is still pushing ahead with the race's organization despite no indication that France has stabilized the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the country's enforced ban on public gatherings of 1000 or more people.

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Residing currently in Dubai where he's keeping himself out of harm's way, Gasly hopes the coast will be clear to race at Paul Ricard come June.

"I personally hope is that we start as early as possible," Gasly told French website Turbo.fr.

"To begin the season at the Castellet in front of the French fans would really be great. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will happen.

"However, I don't want to get ahead of myself because the situation is evolving quite rapidly, but it would be a dream to kick off things at Paul Ricard."

So far, F1 has cancelled or postponed the first nine rounds of the F1 world championship. Like his colleagues, Gasly will miss racing this year at Monaco.

"It's one of my favourite tracks, especially for qualifying," he said. "It's a pity we won't be going there.
"There will be something missing, but the championship isn't based on a single race."

The consensus among the pundits is that a shortened 2020 season could prove to be a disadvantage for Lewis Hamilton. Does Gasly agree with that general opinion.

"You might want to ask him," he jokes. "I think Lewis has enough talent to win a seventh title.

"He is one of the most, if not the most talented driver in the history of F1. I wouldn't worry about him, although we should ask him what he thinks."

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