Gasly remembers when he traveled to Uganda and was scammed by a sponsor

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In response to a question during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, flirtatious Remember one of the greatest adventures he ever had. The events occurred when he was looking for the budget needed to race in GP2.



Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri


© Eric Junius
Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri

In his attempt to find sponsors to go to Prema in 2016, with whom he later won the championship, he was about to travel to Uganda after he was promised his support.

“In my GP2 season, I needed to find some sponsors and I took a trip to Uganda,” Gasly explained.

“I had to meet a guy who wanted to take care of me, because I needed the budget to run Prima.”

“It was during the presidential election, so there was a high risk of a rebellion in the country. But, if I wanted to run with Prima, I had to find the money, and I went there.”

“I was 19 at the time, and within 24 hours, we decided to get tickets, go there for 12 hours, and meet an unknown man, whom I unfortunately didn’t know. He never showed up. We never received money.”

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Although the trip proved fruitless in terms of Gasly’s care, the Frenchman says it was still a valuable experience.

“It was a real adventure,” he commented, “because from start to finish, nothing went as expected.”

“I went with my mother and we thought we would never go back to Europe. The truth is that it was very amazing to see the poverty and the conditions in which these people live.”

“We went through the equivalent of slums, and it makes you see what some parts of the world are like, and how poverty affects some people. I came back without money. Actually, I lost money on plane tickets. But it was also a good life lesson.”

Now, as a Formula 1 driver for the AlphaTauri team, you can give up on sponsors. However, the French struck a deal in mid-2020 with Spanish sunglasses company Huckers, and they have a line of products to his name.

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