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Clarkson promises Alpine team a Hawkstone delivery if Gasly converts Monza pole to victory

Jeremy Clarkson has pledged a Hawkstone beer for every Alpine staff member if Pierre Gasly wins the Italian Grand Prix, after the Frenchman claimed his maiden F1 pole position at Monza on Saturday.

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Clarkson promises Alpine team a Hawkstone delivery if Gasly converts Monza pole to victory
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Pierre Gasly stunned the field at Monza on Saturday by topping qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, claiming the first pole position of his nine-year Formula 1 career — and prompting a very public promise from a famous neighbour.

Jeremy Clarkson, the television presenter whose Diddly Squat Farm in Chipping Norton sits close to Alpine’s Enstone headquarters, took to X shortly after the session to back his local team. “Right. Pierre Gasly. No pressure but if you translate that pole into a win, the whole team gets a Hawkstone. Go Chipping Norton team,” he wrote.

It is not the first time Clarkson has put his brewery on the line for Alpine. During the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, he pledged a round for the entire team if Esteban Ocon reached the podium. When Ocon finished third, Clarkson honoured the bet in characteristically theatrical fashion — personally driving his Lamborghini tractor to the Enstone factory with a trailer carrying 1,000 bottles of Hawkstone beer.

Gasly’s pole at Monza carries particular resonance. It is the same circuit where he took his maiden grand prix victory for AlphaTauri in 2020, and it arrived in a season that has largely been dominated by Mercedes, making the result all the more unexpected.

“I acquired a lot of emotions, so I’m just extremely happy for the whole team,” Gasly said in the post-qualifying press conference. “It’s been nine years I’m in Formula 1, trying to give my best absolutely every single weekend. It’s not every time we get a car to fight for pole position, and today it was the case.”

The Frenchman was candid about what the moment meant to him personally. “I got my first win here in Monza, and now I get my first pole position, so definitely a special place to me,” he added. “It was a heck of a lap. We’ve been on it since the first lap in Q1.”

Whether Gasly can convert Saturday’s pace into a race victory on Sunday — and whether Clarkson will be loading up the tractor again — remains to be seen.

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