The AlphaTauri driver finally got some relief when Ricciardo stopped with an engine issue in the closing laps, triggering the safety car period under which the race ended.
Gasly had a difficult start to the Monza weekend as he didn’t feel well on Thursday. He bounced back to qualify ninth, before gaining four grid spots from penalties.
He eventually finished the race in eighth, logging only his second score in the past eight races, following a ninth place at Spa.
"I’m really happy with the P8 in the end,” said the Frenchman. “Q3 yesterday, started P5, we managed to make a good start, we've been fighting with a McLaren for most of the race.
“Not going to lie, I think I'm probably going to have nightmares of Daniel's rear wing over the next couple of days because I spent so, so, so, so much time right behind him.”
Gasly was frustrated not to be able to progress, but he conceded that Ricciardo had defended well.
“It was actually a race against myself, because I was getting so mad inside the helmet. I was fuming. I tried as hard as I could. And yeah, I was trying to put pressure for him to make a mistake.
“Never happened, he did a really, really clean race on his side. We tried, and at least I know we gave it everything. We tried everything, and we scored some good points, which always feels good."
His race was also compromised by a slow first pit stop: "I need to review exactly what's happened. I don't know if it cost us a position, because I saw the front left had a bit of a slow change. And then it came out really close with Daniel. I need to have a look at exactly what's happened there.”
Gasly had no issue with the race finishing under the safety car, although he believed any “sparks” ahead at a restart might have gifted him some positions.
"I'm not going to lie, on my side, if I purely look at it in a very selfish way, I was used hard and Lando [Norris, ahead] was on new softs.
“So I had definitely more to lose than to gain, but then at the same time, I was thinking I know if they restart it, knowing the guys ahead, knowing when you drive a Ferrari car on this racetrack and you get one shot at winning the race here, I know there could be quite a lot of sparks into Turn 1, and maybe we could benefit from it.
“So I was ready for both scenarios. But they decided not to restart. I don't know why.
"I think there were a couple of guys unhappy last year [in Abu Dhabi] when they restarted for one more lap. This time there are couple of guys unhappy not restarting. So it's always depending which way you look at it."
Asked by Motorsport.com about his expectations for the next race in Singapore, Gasly admitted that it probably won’t suit his car.
"If I look at the numbers, maybe it's better not to look at the numbers! I go there was an open mind and we'll try our best, prepare ourselves the best way and hopefully we can be fighting again for the top 10.
"First of all, I'll try to rest, get some good sleep and get physically back in shape for that race, because we know it's very extreme conditions. It's a track I love, honestly. I love that place, I missed that place over the last few years and can't wait to get there."
