Football stars Neymar and Kylian Mbappe joined France’s President Emmanuel Macron in reaching out to congratulate Pierre Gasly after his breakthrough win at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Gasly, a PSG fan, told the ESPN F1 Podcast his team’s two star players were among those from the wider world of sports who called him on Sunday evening.
“Yeah, I was impressed and very happy how much support messages I got from all other athletes in the world of sports,” Gasly said. “I obviously follow soccer a bit more. I know a couple of the guys, Neymar, Griezmann, Mbappe, Giroud, so many players actually follow F1 and congratulated me.
“Also in different sports, in tennis, some cyclists, from everywhere. I was shocked and I still haven’t had the chance to go through all the messages. It means a lot because this makes me realise sometimes we are focusing and not realising so many people are following back in their life, and really happy for the success of other guys.”
The victory was the first for a French driver since Olivier Panis at the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix, when Gasly was just three months old. In the hours after the race revealed to Sky Sports he had missed a call from President Macron, a call he returned on Sunday evening.
When asked if he had ever spoken to Macron before, Gasly said: “Never, never! That’s why I was so surprised.
“It made me realise something big happened. It’s not every day you get a call from your President. That was super nice, just to tell me he was really happy and really proud of me and what I achieved.
“For our country we had to wait a long 24 years before it happened again with me in Monza. He was super pleased so it was important I enjoyed this special moment. Obviously very special words — a very special call.”