Pierre Gasly earned both his AlphaTauri wage and his points in the Australian Grand Prix as he overcame an ill-timed safety car and won a fierce on-track battle with Lance Stroll.
At Albert Park, Gasly qualified outside the top-ten for the first time this season, launching his race from P11 on the grid.
The Frenchman got the better of Alpine's Fernando Alonso at the outset while he also benefitted from the demise of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, moves that allowed Gasly to settle into P9.
But his early efforts were then destroyed by a safety car that appeared just two laps after his pitstop, which set him back in fourteenth position from where he was forced to battle his way back in to the first half of the field.
©AlphaTauri
"I had a really good start, managed to pass two cars in the first lap, was running in a good position in P9, boxed and then we got slapped by the Safety Car like in Saudi," Gasly explained.
"Pretty upset – we dropped to P14 – but yes, we stayed focused and managed to finish in P9."
But on his way to the top-ten, the AlphaTauri charger had to pull out the stops to catch and overhaul Aston Martin's Stroll with whom the Frenchman enjoyed a spirited tussle.
"Clearly, we had to fight hard for it, especially with Lance," he recounted.
"I must say I enjoyed the battle, it was the most entertaining moment of the race. I went through all the emotions.
"It was pretty intense on a track like this, but in the end, I got the best of him."
©AlphaTauri
Unfortunately, Gasly's teammate Yuki Tsunoda was unable to hang on to his team's sister which he was following half-way through the race.
The Japanese driver could do no better that P15 on his first visit to Albert Park.
"There was no pace in the car, I just really struggled," said the 21-year-old.
"Obviously, we have to work on what the issue was to avoid for next time. Just lacking performance overall; the race I didn’t expect to be that bad – but it is what it is."
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