“With the clutch, the way the car behaves in relation to the gear shifts is also quite different.”
Sky commentators Martin Brundle and Naomi Schiff were on hand to help with proceedings, with the former commenting that his old F3 nemesis‘s Toleman just looks like a “big Formula Ford car”.
Would Gasly like to be racing ’80s era of fire-breathing turbos and heroes like Senna, Prost and Mansell?
“I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t ever really attracted by classic old cars,” he admits. “I’m very into all the latest [road-going] hypercars.
“However this experience made me feel something unique. In my generation, anytime I’ve jumped in a car I’ve never really thought about safety – even if sometimes it’s thrown right in your face with some tragic events, generally these days things are a lot safer.
“I was thinking these last few days about jumping in that car, back then the safety was different. You respect the machine even more.
“I was pushing more and more, getting closer to the limit – but then you have this sense of [the relative] safety [or lack of] which comes to the back of your mind.”
The emotion is clear for Gasly in emulating Senna in some small way – so why did he latch onto the Brazilian, and not French hero Alain Prost?