A few months after Ferrari star Charles Leclerc lashed out at his fans for not respecting his privacy, Pierre Gasly has followed suit. Following that, he has asked fans for more respect for his privacy via AutoSport.
Gasly had to ask his fans to respect the boundaries last year as well. As he walked through the paddock during the Mexican GP in 2022, Gasly found someone had opened his backpack, which contained some essential items, including his passport. Fortunately, nothing had gone missing, but it was still a severe breach of his privacy, after which he addressed the media and called for the fans to be more respectful of his privacy. Now, for the second time in two years, the Frenchman finds himself asking his fans for basic courtesy.
Pierre Gasly wants the fans to be more respectful
During his time at the Italian Grand Prix, Gasly had to sound the alarm after random people started knocking on the door of Alpine’s hospitality room. Not only did it hinder the driver’s rest and breach his privacy, but it also caused restrictions to the team crew trying to haul their equipment from one point to another. Subsequently, the 27-year-old went public and asked fans for a better understanding.
“I would say there aren’t too many other sports where fans can maybe get that close to the athletes. But in many other sports they just seem to be more respectful. They need to show that more often. It’s that simple.”
After last year’s antics, this is the second time Gasly has had to ask his fans for some personal space. However, the Alpine driver is not the only one to suffer an invasion of his personal space. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc stands as another example of an F1 driver having their privacy breached and then calling their fans out, hoping to stop them.
Charles Leclerc also asked fans to back off
Six months ago, Leclerc saw his home address in Monaco revealed to the public. As a result, people started to show up at his front door. They asked for selfies and autographs from the Monegasque driver as he battled with how his address became public. To put a stop to the antics, he posted an Instagram story asking people not to show up at his house and to respect his private life. A few months later, the Ferrari driver blamed Drive To Survive as the primary reason behind F1 drivers enjoying less and less privacy.
However, Leclerc also accepts that global stardom is a part of the job. The most important factor is to find the right balance between his personal and professional life, says the 25-year-old. He adds if he were to weigh the positives and negatives against one another, the positives would easily outweigh their counterpart. The F1 drivers still hope fans can better understand that they, too, want some personal space away from all the attention and disturbance.
