IN PICTURES: F1 Sensation Watches the Brooklyn Nets Courtside With Girlfriend as Kevin Durant Returns From Injury

Pierre Gasly embraced yet another F1 season of strong showing with mid-fielders, AlphaTauri, securing P9 after having claimed a whopping 110 championship points, which also includes a podium in Baku. Overall, a consistent stint for the one-time Grand Prix winner!

So, with such an exhilarating 2021 Formula 1 campaign in the bag, the Frenchman needed a perfect end to the year which he managed to accomplish on December 31 in New York! How you might ask?

Well, Gasly enjoyed New Year’s eve with his girlfriend watching an NBA game from the courtside at the Barclays Center in New York City.

Pierre Gasly watches the Brooklyn Nets game

Gasly’s girlfriend, Katerina Berezhna, took to Instagram to reveal a few pictures, including that of Gasly watching the breathtaking game in awe. By the looks of it, the French lad was cheering for one of the NBA 2022 favorites, the Nets. Unfortunately, the end result did not go the way he had intended to.

It was indeed a rather disappointing night for the Brooklyn Nets fans, as they ended up on the losing side against the Philadelphia 76ers; 76ers defeated Nets by a fine margin: 110-102.

Brooklyn, New York, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) exchanges words with Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant (7) in front of guard Seth Curry (31) during the second half at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Of course, it was ultimately painful for the Nets to lose the game, especially considering the fact that they had embraced two back-to-back wins against the Clippers and the Lakers before heading to Brooklyn for the final match-up of the year 2021.

Nevertheless, there was a silver lining to this defeat, as the main man, Kevin Durant, made his return to the court after the brief layoff due to an ankle injury. Durant was unsurprisingly the star player of the Nets squad garnering 33 points. James Harden was the only other player to match Durant in the year-ending game.

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Can Gasly pull off a strong F1 show in 2022?

Two back-to-back years (2020 & 2021) of sheer success for Gasly, winning races and podiums, but, can he make it a hat-trick this year? Well, he certainly could!

Formula One F1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain – AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly during the press conference FIA/Handout via REUTERS

Gasly, as always, is shimmering with confidence. Hence, all he will potentially need is a decent enough car from AlphaTauri to take the charge in 2022. Although it might be impossible for Gasly to challenge for podiums frequently, he certainly is one of the favorites to become the ‘best of the rest’ driver on the grid.

Hence, will he be able to finish his upcoming campaign behind Mercedes and Red Bull?

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