Pierre Gasly’s 2025 F1 Las Vegas GP Qualifying session proved to be an adrenaline-fueled challenge in treacherous wet conditions. The Alpine driver secured P10 after missing most of FP3, giving him minimal preparation time. Gasly battled extreme low grip and tyre temperature issues throughout the session.
Adrenaline rush after qualifying
Gasly’s Las Vegas GP Qualifying session left him buzzing with adrenaline after the session concluded. The extreme conditions created a unique challenge for him and the rest of the field. In response to a comment made in the TV pen saying it looked like rally driving on the Las Vegas circuit, Gasly agreed stating: “Yeah, that’s what I was saying, I don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight because of the amount of adrenaline that I still have in me.“
The grip level proved incredibly low throughout his qualifying efforts. Not going out on track for the majority of FP3, meant he had to adapt quickly to the evolving conditions: “Yeah, it’s crazy conditions, the grip level was so low, I didn’t drive FP3 so going into Q1 I had to figure out things very quickly and so much evolution, it was temperature, tyre.”
Despite the conditions, Gasly thrived in the unpredictable environment. He continued: “But these are conditions I love, as you say, it’s kind of like love and hate because there’s always a risk and reward and how much you’re willing to take and what you feel and how much you can push but it’s inside the will, you can’t even blink one tenth of a second because there’s always something happening.“
Missing running proves costly
The consequences of missing the majority of FP3 became apparent during Gasly’s Las Vegas GP qualifying efforts. When asked about his struggles on corner entry late in the session, he pointed to the lack of preparation: “I think we probably paid a bit the price of not running FP3.“
The tyre temperature issues plagued Gasly through his qualifying session. Gasly continued, “Because, yeah, well, inside now I think we all agree that we would have done things differently. I put the Inter on the start of Q1, it was an absolute carnage and I put them in Q3 and for me it was the same, I just had no grip from the start, I couldn’t brake, wheel spin in 5th gear, I just couldn’t switch them on.“
Despite the disappointment of not maximizing his Q3 performance during the Las Vegas GP qualifying session, Gasly remained positive about the overall result: “We’ll review, a bit of a shame there, but I think in the first place to get to where we got was a great result for us.“
Managing risk and reward
Gasly’s Las Vegas GP Qualifying session required constant risk assessment, particularly on his final laps. When asked if he was satisfied with his risk-reward balance, he explained his approach:“Yeah, well, it’s always easy to say afterward, but I was trying to gauge it and in the last straight I was always asking my engineer: ‘Ok, tell me, are we through or do I need to go like a magic last corner?'”
The final sector presented particular dangers during Gasly’s qualifying runs. Multiple drivers struggled in the closing corners throughout the session: “You can find a bit of time by pushing the braking, but at the same time you can lose it all because it was so easy to front lock.”
Despite the challenges Gasly felt competitive throughout his Las Vegas GP qualifying session: “But I love these conditions and even from the start I felt like we were pretty competitive all the way through, so it was enjoyable.”
Track transformation in wet conditions
The wet conditions completely changed the Las Vegas circuit during qualifying. When the discussion turned to how the final corner became a genuine challenge, Gasly explained: “Yeah, that’s what I say, suddenly these tracks become completely different, on the dry it’s one thing, but on the wet it must be one of the toughest ones.”
Specific corners became particularly treacherous during Gasly’s Las Vegas GP qualifying efforts in the wet: “Like that last kink, coming with cold tyres and really building it up, turn 10, 11, you have a lot of combined braking, turn 3 there’s something, it’s a completely different track in these conditions.”
Finding grip proved difficult throughout Gasly’s Las Vegas GP Qualifying session due to the street circuit’s unique characteristics: “It’s fun because I think no one really drove a lot on that track, so even to figure out where the grip was, inside, outside, it’s not a traditional track where you can go offline out of the rubber, etc. So we had to figure out a few things, but even the white lines, I’m not an expert, I didn’t know the single white lines were, probably in Monaco it’s a bit easier to gauge all of that from having driven a bit more, but it was fun.“
Race day expectations
Looking ahead to the race, Gasly remained cautious about expectations after his Las Vegas GP Qualifying performance. When asked if he could score points, he tempered his hopes: “I’d like to believe so. The reality is, at this stage of the season I’ve stopped thinking or having any sort of expectations and I just go in the race and try to give everything I’ve got and see what we get.”
His previous Las Vegas performances suggest room for improvement on race day: “I’ve had better records in qualifying than in the race here last year, fortunately we drove the engine the year before we had a lot of rain, so it will be interesting to see, but I think we should be in the mix.“
Impressive grid-wide performance level
Despite the conditions during the Las Vegas GP Qualifying session, remarkably few incidents occurred. When this was pointed out in the TV pen, Gasly explained his theory: “I think we’re just talking about it, it just shows, I think the only reason is it just displays the level there is at the minute on the grid, because for me it’s very impressive that no one actually had a, it was probably one of the toughest sessions I’ve had in Formula One, alongside Brazil last year, along the few wet conditions, like Monaco a few years ago.”
Gasly rated his Las Vegas GP Qualifying session among the most challenging of his Formula 1 career. The lack of red flags despite extreme conditions impressed him: “But usually you just know a red flag is coming and straight from the start everyone was very sensible and for me the only explanation is it just shows the level on the grid is very high at the moment.“
Starting from P10, Alpine heads into race day hoping Gasly can convert his starting position into valuable championship points.
