Pierre Gasly says he enjoys the fan atmosphere in the F1 paddock, but at Monza the overpopulated restricted area turned into a disturbance as the Alpine driver struggled to navigate his workspace.
As usual, the Italian Grand Prix – the final round of the European leg of the championship – attracted more than its fair share of guests and VIPS.
But F1’s growing popularity meant that the density of the crowd’s congestion in the paddock was perhaps the highest it’s ever been, preventing F1 personnel – including drivers – from moving smoothly from one area to another.
And the commotion also extended to the teams’ hospitality units, and that was a problem for Gasly.
While the Frenchman appreciates the attention that fans bestow upon the drivers, he reiterated in Italy his call for greater respect and urged fans to provide the teams with the necessary space to carry out their duties.
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“I love fans, and I always love to stop by and give some time. But then it’s obviously our work environment,” Gasly explained.
“Sometimes it’s a bit tricky to get around and make sure that we are on time for the commitments that we got because it’s minute by minute, and it’s clearly one of the busiest pitlanes.
“It’s very enjoyable, but sometimes it’s even people knocking at the door inside the hospitality, you wonder how they got there.
“So [people need to] give the space we need to work properly.”
Last year in Mexico, Gasly had already urged F1 to better manage access to the paddock by outsiders after he had noticed that intrusive fans had opened his backpack as he was walking to his motor home.
“I had my bag – which I arrived at the hospitality yesterday morning with, it had my passport – opened and I didn’t even feel it,” he explained at the time.
“Clearly it wasn’t me and it wasn’t my manager. When he saw that, he closed it straight away. But the same thing happened in Austin when I came out of the paddock.
“I think letting people in is fine, but it’s true that I feel like some guests sometimes are not really respecting the space that we need.
“People coming in garages before qualifying and asking for pictures when they are not even from our team.
“We are working here and obviously we give time for the fans when we can.”
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