Gasly 'lucky' to avoid mental health struggle

Pierre Gasly has revealed he has been "lucky" to avoid struggling with mental health thanks to being surrounded by his loved ones. 

The Alpine driver opened up on the challenges of mental health in Formula 1 as part of World Mental Health Day. 

There has been increased attention on the mental health of F1 drivers recently since Lewis Hamilton revealed a lifelong battle with depression. 

Hamilton has received praise and support for opening up on his mental health difficulties in the pressure cooker that is the pinnacle of motorsport. 

For Gasly, the Frenchman has dealt with issues during his eight-year F1 career, most notably being dropped by Red Bull after just 12 races.

Gasly has since become a consistent and reliable driver, with the 28-year-old continuing to learn every day. 

"How do I manage my mental health? It's a process," Gasly told Alpine partner JAAQ. "I don't have all the keys to all the answers right now, but obviously as you grow up through life, you face different challenges. 

"You face different situations, you have different stages of your life where you're dealing with different things. And I think I'm learning every day. 

"I'm learning every day about myself, about what works for me, what doesn't, facing different scenarios, understanding how to cope with it and how to always search for a peaceful place and a peaceful state of mind that's going to make me comfortable. 

"But especially because I'm very driven. Let's say I'm in a stage of my life where I'm really focused on my career and my job, which comes sometimes with compromising the sort of personal life, which is very important for me in my sort of mental health stability."

Balancing all aspects of life

Everybody has different methods of dealing with mental health and personal challenges. In Gasly's case, he surrounds himself with his family.

Thanks to this working for him, the 2020 Italian Grand Prix winner can deal with any issues quickly. 

He has learned to balance his hectic work life with his personal life, ensuring he can perform at the highest levels. 

"So it's always trying to balance all these different elements to make sure that I get enough of this personal life that allows me to be at my a hundred per cent in my work life, which is my priority," continued Gasly.

"So it's a balance we are dealing with. And then after we are all running through stages where things are slightly better, sometimes slightly worse, different pressure moments that can affect different problems. 

"But I think I'm quite lucky. I'm quite lucky that I've faced difficulty, but somehow I was always well surrounded by my family or my team or the people around me. And even I managed to figure myself quite early on. 

"I think thanks to sport, I was a bit eyed in terms of maturity compared to my age, and it helped me deal with mental health earlier in my life. And it's a constant work. But I must say I'm quite lucky to be sort of fine. 

"And I think so far I'm quite happy where I'm at and it's allowing me to perform and be in a great place for my family and the people that are important to me."