Gasly bracing for 'emotional' swansong with AlphaTauri

Pierre Gasly's five-year tenure with Red Bull and AlphaTauri will come to an end next Sunday evening in Abu Dhabi, and the Frenchman is expecting an emotional swansong with the Italian outfit.

After spending over five years in Red Bull's F1 family, Gasly will open up a new chapter in his F1 career when he moves to Alpine.

Unfortunately, points have been rare to come by for the 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner in the latter part of his campaign, with his most recent top-ten finish occurring in Singapore four races back.

And then there's the Frenchman's Superlicence penalty points tally that has put him on the brink of a race ban and forcing him to remain on his best behaviour until next May, theoretically.

But Gasly will still give it his at Yas Marina, hoping to end his partnership with AlphaTauri on a high note.

• Read also: Gasly gets green light for Alpine debut in Abu Dhabi test

"It’s going to be a very emotional weekend of course," he admits. "My last one with the team after five years spent together.

"It means our relationship has been much more than just a working partnership. I know all the engineers and mechanics and the people in the factory personally, having spent time together even in our private lives.

"It’s the last race of a long history, as I don’t think many drivers have spent five years with a team.

"There have been so many really great moments that we have shared together and what’s certain, is that whatever happens this weekend I will be trying my very best in the hope we can end with a good race and a nice result.

"But apart from that, I just want to enjoy the weekend as a whole and to think of all the great times we spent together over the past few years."

A distant P14 finish was all that Gasly took away from last weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix, and he's steering clear from making any predictions for F1's curtain closer next weekend.

"Brazil was another weekend where it just didn’t come together for us in the race," he says. Even though I pushed as hard as I could, it was again a frustrating afternoon with no points.

"Now we come to the final round, which will be important as it’s our final chance to take eighth place in the Constructors’.

"Last year I finished fifth, but this year I do not have such high expectations, because our performance has been hard to predict from one race to the next.

"This year, it has generally been difficult for us to fight for points places, but that is still our aim and personally I would love to end this story with Scuderia AlphaTauri by finishing in the top 10 together one last time."

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