Pierre Gasly says his closing lap in Q3 was a particular one as he secured third place on the grid for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Alpine scored a shock double-podium on the final race in Brazil, with Gasly third behind teammate Esteban Ocon in second. Whereas that outcome got here in moist situations, Friday’s qualifying in Las Vegas was in dry and chilly temperatures, and Gasly excelled along with his closing lap placing him within the high three, behind solely George Russell and Carlos Sainz.
“It’s completely unimaginable as a crew,” Gasly stated. “We began Bahrain on the final row with each automobiles, and abruptly, the previous couple of weeks have been fairly a change. I’m actually glad and happy with the work the crew has been doing in a season the place every part seemed unimaginable, simply to nonetheless stick collectively and put some extra efficiency in that automobile.
“Going into qualifying at present, I need to admit we by no means thought we’ll be ready to truly get in that high three, however I managed to have a really particular lap on the proper time on that final set in Q3 and it’s a really good shock.”
Gasly says Alpine had a transparent strategy to the Las Vegas Strip Circuit that has paid off thus far, and he felt assured in his automobile’s dealing with from the beginning of the primary observe session.
“We went with a reasonably aggressive package deal when it comes to downforce, so we’re working little or no downforce round this observe,” he defined. “We attempt to maximize the straight strains; we clearly make our lives barely tougher within the corners.
“I believe it’s a difficult observe. It’s very chilly situations. It’s fairly an outlier within the season. However I had a pleasant feeling within the automobile since P1. P2 went effectively. P3 went effectively. After which in that Q3, we managed to make it work with just one set of recent tires as effectively.
“So there was positively some good tempo and for now, I’m very happy. Clearly, it’s solely qualifying, however I believe it’s most likely the primary time I qualify within the high three. It feels prefer it was a particular one.”
Gasly has each Crimson Bulls, each McLarens and Charles Leclerc behind him on the grid, and says he’s not overly centered on holding them at bay as he as an alternative has is eyes on defending Alpine’s sixth place within the constructors’ standings.
“That’s probably not what I’m excited about. I believe we all know the place the goal is for us,” he stated. “We’re preventing Haas and [RB] within the constructors’. Clearly, no matter occurred in that quali is wonderful. It feels good to be in entrance of Max and McLaren and these guys, however on the finish of the day, it’s not our battle.
“So we’ll give our greatest shot tomorrow. It’s a difficult one round right here with the graining, so we’ll make certain we do our homework tonight to maximise the probabilities tomorrow. However for positive, from P3, we improve our possibilities to get some good factors.”