BARCELONA, Spain -- Pierre Gasly has said being denied a dream Monaco Grand Prix podium was the hardest sporting moment of his Formula 1 career to date.
Gasly was one of five drivers to be given a penalty for speeding in the pit lane during last weekend's event -- the time penalty was applied after he had crossed the line in third, relegating him to seventh.
"I definitely needed these few days to kind of calm down," Gasly said on Thursday, ahead of Sunday's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Alpine has appealed the Monaco penalty, but it has to prove to the FIA that it has new "significant and relevant" information which was not available to the stewards when the penalty was applied before a hearing into the result itself can take place.
Gasly did not elaborate when asked on his thoughts on Alpine's chances of reversing the decision.
At the time he had called the penalty "heartbreaking" and, reflecting on it four days on, said it was the biggest setback he's faced on track other than the death of his friend Anthoine Hubert in a 2019 Formula 2 race ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.
"I think to me it's fair to say this was the hardest day I've ever had in F1 and in my sporting career," Gasly said about the Monaco penalty.
"I'm talking sporting-wise, not 2019 with Anthoine, but sporting-wise I would say it was definitely the hardest to deal with because you put in a very strong performance. I think as a kid I grew up watching Formula 1, the iconic Monaco Grand Prix as a Frenchman ... It has a special meaning to me and I never had the chance to go on that podium.
"I know I'm someone who is quite emotional, but dealing with all the emotion I felt after the race for me was extremely hard and intense."
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Gasly has been one of Formula 1's standout performers in the midfield stemming back to his memorable 2020 career revival season with AlphaTauri and his win at that year's Italian Grand Prix, but Monaco would have been just his sixth visit to the Formula 1 podium had the result stood.
He said that made it an even harder situation to accept.
"If you drive a car that gives you the possibility to finish on the podium every other weekend, it's slightly different," he said.
"You move on quickly, come here, fight for the podium, eventually to win. It's a bit easier in my career not being in a position to have that car yet underneath me. So I know when the chance is there, it might be once a year, it might be once every two years, it might be two or three times a year.
"But once it's there, I want to make sure that I'm the one grabbing it. It was a special place with special results. It was definitely the toughest moment, which also makes me learn about myself and how to cope with that. But not a nice moment."
Footage after the race had shown Gasly pumping his fists on the lap back to the pits after the race, leading to speculation he had not known the penalty was being applied, even though it had been hanging over him during the red flag stoppage a handful of laps earlier.
He denied that was the case and said he was savouring the moment.
"No, no, I was aware," Gasly said on that topic. "I think at that time, you know, it's just running extremely high on emotions. It was a perfectly executed race, I was really proud of the performance we had with the team and crossing the line in third, which should be rewarded with a podium.
"And, you know, it was my way of having my moment. Based on the whole situation and what I felt at that time, that's why I wanted to deal with the situation to share any type of emotion I had."
