Jeremy Clarkson makes Alpine promise if Pierre Gasly converts Monza F1 pole into win
Jeremy Clarkson has promised a beer for the whole Alpine F1 team if Pierre Gasly wins the Italian Grand Prix.
TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson has promised the entire Alpine Formula 1 team a Hawkstone beer if Pierre Gasly wins the Italian Grand Prix.
Gasly caused one of the biggest F1 upsets of recent times by beating George Russell’s Mercedes to the quickest time in qualifying at Monza as he claimed his maiden pole position.
The 30-year-old pipped Russell by just 0.060 seconds to become the first French driver to start from pole since Jean Alesi in 1997 - also at Monza. It also marked Alpine’s first F1 pole for 17 years.
Alpine’s previous F1 pole was taken by Fernando Alonso at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, back when the team was Renault.
Former Top Gear and the Grand Tour host Clarkson has given Alpine an additional incentive to claim its first win since 2021, by offering the whole team one of his Hawkstone beers.
Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm in Chipping Norton - made famous by the Amazon Prime series Clarkson’s Farm - is near to Alpine’s Enstone base in Oxfordshire.
"Right. Pierre Gasly. No pressure but if you translate that pole into a win, the whole team gets a Hawkstone. Go Chipping Norton team,” Clarkson wrote on social media.
Clarkson previously delivered on a similar promise back in 2023 after Esteban Ocon claimed a surprise podium at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Alpine welcomed the delivery and thanked Clarkson for his generosity on social media, saying: "Delivering on his word. Cheers for the beers, Jeremy Clarkson.”
Gasly’s sole F1 victory came at Monza when he won the 2020 Italian Grand Prix for AlphaTauri.
“I’m extremely happy with our performance,” Gasly said after securing a milestone F1 pole on Saturday.
“It’s been nine years I’m in Formula 1, trying to give my best absolutely every single weekend and it’s not every time we get a car to fight for pole position. Today it was the case and, yeah, I’m really, really happy, really proud to have seized this chance and to make it work.
“It was a heck of a lap. We’ve been on it since the first lap in Q1, it’s been feeling good. Nine years waiting for that moment, that feeling. I got my first win here in Monza and now I get my first pole position, so definitely a special place to me.”
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