Pierre Gasly thought he was posting the kind of harmless off-season content F1 drivers churn out by the dozen: a few days in Val-d’Isère, some fondue, friends on the slopes, and the usual “snow heaven” vibe for the feed.
Instead, he walked straight into one of motorsport’s most sensitive fault lines — Michael Schumacher — because of a red, Marlboro-branded ski suit that looked uncomfortably close to the Ferrari era imagery so many fans still hold sacred.
The reaction online was swift and, in parts, vicious. Some called the post “tasteless” and “disrespectful”, not just because of the obvious tobacco branding and the visual echo of Schumacher’s famous overalls, but because the photo landed on 3 January — Schumacher’s 57th birthday — and only days after the anniversary of his life-changing skiing accident on 29 December 2013.
The context is unavoidable. Schumacher’s family has guarded his privacy fiercely since the accident, and in the vacuum that creates, the wider F1 world has developed a kind of informal etiquette around his name and image. Fans don’t just view him as a retired great; for many, he’s a figure who shouldn’t be casually invoked, and certainly not in the same setting that changed his life.
Gasly insists that reading doesn’t reflect reality.
Speaking during Alpine’s launch of the A526 on Friday, the Frenchman pushed back on the idea there was any intent behind the outfit choice or the timing. If anything, he framed it as the opposite: a fan wearing something he associates with an idol.
“I’m a big fan of Michael,” Gasly said, adding that he has “always shown respect” and has never hidden that Schumacher was one of the drivers he grew up idolising.
He explained the suit was “one of his jackets,” and emphasised that skiing has been part of his life since childhood — something he leans on specifically because it pulls him out of the F1 bubble. In the off-season, he split time between family over Christmas and a week away with friends, describing it as a necessary reset back into what he called a “more traditional life”.
That’s the bit that lands closest to the truth of how drivers live now, and why these flare-ups keep happening. The sport asks them to be accessible and “authentic”, to share enough to keep sponsors happy and algorithms fed — and then judges the smallest misstep with a ferocity that doesn’t always leave room for nuance. Gasly’s point wasn’t that criticism is never deserved; it was that intent gets flattened online.
“Yes,” he said when asked about the backlash. “I think it’s unfortunately the life we live in.
“I think I always show I’m someone very respectful… Michael was and is one of them. So in not a single second I meant anything [bad] by that.”
It’s also worth saying the reaction speaks to Schumacher’s unique place in the paddock psyche. Plenty of drivers are revered; few carry the same emotional charge. Mention Ayrton Senna and you’ll still get reverence. Mention Schumacher and you often get reverence plus protectiveness, especially around anything that brushes up against the accident — skiing, anniversaries, birthdays, the whole constellation of dates that have become loaded for fans.
None of that means Gasly’s explanation will satisfy everyone. For some, the Marlboro look is inseparable from an era when tobacco branding was everywhere, and the image is too iconic to be repurposed casually. For others, the issue is simply that the calendar made it impossible not to read as a statement, even if it wasn’t meant that way.
But Gasly’s stance is clear: it was a jacket, a day on the slopes, and nothing more — from a driver who says he’s always held Schumacher in the highest regard.
In a quieter sense, it’s a reminder of how thin the margins are in modern F1, even in January. The cars might not be running yet, but reputations are always in season.
