After coming under fire from "crazy" Formula One fans in Spain Pierre Gasly has downplayed the apparent dig he made at Fernando Alonso after his fourth-place finish in Bahrain.
Gasly capped a stellar weekend in Sakhir as Toro Rosso recovered from a difficult opening weekend at the Australian Grand Prix to show legitimate pace. Some expected the team to struggle with the new Honda engines it took after the Japanese company acrimoniously split from McLaren at the end of 2017.
Plenty of attention has been on McLaren since. When Alonso finished fifth in Australia with the team's new Renault engine, he declared "Now we can fight!" -- a clear statement that he felt the team now had an engine he felt was competitive. After finishing one place higher in Bahrain, Gasly used the same phrase to congratulate his team, which many saw as a reference to the Spaniard.
When asked about it in the press conference ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, Gasly said: "For me it was simple, it was just a little joke. That was it.
"I think we need to give credit back to Honda. In the end it was a really tough three years with McLaren and to finish P4 in just our second race with them is amazing so it was a way to give them back credit as they are working really hard and I think they need credit for the hard work they are doing."
Gasly says he received backlash for the comment from Alonso's home nation but he insists it was not aimed directly at the two-time world champion.
"I've had some pretty tough messages after the race by some Spanish people, they were actually quite crazy, I have huge respect for Fernando so just to make it clear please don't get me wrong. Fernando is one of the best drivers of all time in Formula One and one of the drivers I looked at when I was young and one of my idols so I have a huge respect to him. It was nothing related to him it was a comment for Honda and I think they deserved the credit.
Formula 1 Heineken Chinese Grand Prix U.S. coverage presented by Mothers Polish (All times Eastern)
Practice 1 - Thursday, April 12 09:55 PM - ESPN3
Practice 2 - Friday, April 13 1:55 AM - ESPN3
Practice 3 - Friday, April 13 11:00 PM - ESPNEWS
Qualifying - Saturday, April 14 1:55 AM - ESPN2
On the Grid - Sunday, April 15 - 1:30AM - ESPN2
Race - Sunday, April 15 - 2:05AM - ESPN2
Encore - Sunday April 15 - 1:00PM - ESPNEWS
Encore - Sunday, April 15 - 09:00PM - ESPN2