Pierre Gasly has said today was his “best qualifying session of the season” after he qualified in the top 10 for the F1 Spanish GP.
The Alpine driver will start eighth on the grid for Sunday’s race in a much more positive result following a difficult series of races.
Gasly: Alpine “needed to bounce back” after Monaco GP
Alpine’s performance in the current triple header has been far from successful, with neither driver having been able to score points in the last two races.
However, something felt different for Pierre Gasly today as he stepped into his F1 car ahead of qualifying. Each car this weekend was subject to new front wing regulations, meaning that most teams will have had to change their setups slightly.
These changes seemed to work well for Gasly, who will be feeling the pressure this weekend after a collision with Tsunoda forced him to return from last weekend’s Monaco GP.
“We needed that as a team,” he said of his P8 result in the print media pen. “After Monaco, where we qualified 18th and 20th as a team, I think we needed to bounce back this weekend.”
He continued: “With my lap, I tried a few things this morning and it wasn’t good. We reverted everything back to what it was yesterday.
“I felt good to push the car. I managed to sneak into Q3 in tenths, which was close, and then my lap in Q3 was definitely one of the best of the season.
“I’m very happy to finish ahead of Fernando [Alonso], who looked very strong all weekend, and also Isack [Hadjar] who has been very strong in quali this year.”
Gasly: Alpine “did a very good job” at F1 Spanish GP qualifying
Alpine were desperate for a positive result following a very poor performance in Monaco last weekend. Gasly’s efforts put them in a good spot for points for Barcelona’s race – in fact, he’ll start ten places higher than he did in the principality.
When asked if the team knows why the performance differs so greatly between the two races, Gasly said: “We know why. In Q1, when you see that from P6 to P18, you’re looking at less than 2 tenths. If a track doesn’t suit your car and your package, you easily swing on the wrong side of the midfield.
“We’re not miles off. I think I was again seven tenths and two tenths from P9 in Monaco. The car wasn’t really performing well there.
“That’s the price you pay at the moment. Just pleased. The whole team did a very good job. We managed the traffic and everything in a good way. I think it’s definitely the best qualifying we’ve had this year.”
Gasly: F1 Spanish GP will not be easy
High temperatures in Barcelona mean that tyre management will be an extremely important factor in Sunday’s race. And that’s not the only thing affecting Gasly’s race – he joked that his performance will depend on the result of another major sporting event happening this weekend:
“We’ll see tomorrow. Personally, I hope PSG win the final so I’m in a good mood on the grid tomorrow afternoon.”
He continued: “It’s going to be a tough race. This track is very difficult in terms of degradation. There are a couple of strategies possible. It’s always the same dilemma. It’s a bit difficult to know already what’s going to be the best.
“At the end of the day, I knew if we want to put the best chances on our side, it’s important to stay on top of that midfield.
“I expect the first seven to definitely have better pace in the race. Hopefully, we can use a bit of free air to fight for these couple of points.”
Gasly: Alpine knew Spanish GP “would be better” than Monaco
Gasly’s F1 Spanish GP qualifying result represents a positive future for Alpine, who have struggled to get points so far this season. While Monaco was nothing short of a disaster for the team, Gasly explained that a decent performance in Barcelona gives the team hope for other tracks later in the year.
“We knew it would be better,” he said. “We didn’t expect to be eighth, but we knew it was going to be very tight to get into Q3. I think overall we probably did better than we thought, but again, you look at the gaps and it’s all extremely tight.
“I think the bigger picture just shows this year we still have a lot of weekends, and if we have this performance here on this track, there’s no reason we should not have it on some other track. It might be pretty inconsistent, but then it’s up to us to do a very strong job every weekend.”
Temperatures going into qualifying cooled slightly since FP3, which came as a welcome change for most drivers, including Gasly:
“It’s always easier. When it’s colder you just pick up a bit more grip, you can be a bit more aggressive. In that way it always feels a bit nicer, so it’s a nice step in the right direction.”
Gasly: Good performance after rear wing changes
Barcelona is the first F1 weekend to see new regulations for the cars’ rear wings, meaning teams will have had to change their set-ups to comply. For Gasly and Alpine, this was a hurdle that posed little challenge.
“Yeah, definitely we had to adjust the set-up around it,” said Gasly. “I think it’s pretty much the case for some other teams, maybe some less than others. P1 was a little tricky, and then after we did very well to go around those differences.
“It was a bit of a question mark on what it would do. I’m pleased to see that on our side we managed to still get good performance out of the car.”
Gasly: A525 is “not perfect”
Gasly went on to assert that the current setup of the car is by no means perfect, but the team was pleased with its performance nonetheless. To get to that point, though, it took some trial and error during the free practice sessions.
“You never get everything perfect, but you’ve got to go with what brings the most performance,” said Gasly. “In the end I think we did very well, and we had to explore stuff this morning. We changed a few things, and I must say it was definitely not good.
“Before the qualifying I was a bit worried with our pace, and had some question marks on whether we’ll find that pace back in quali. But in the end it was the case, so that’s why I’m very pleased.”
When asked details about the differences in balance and handling, Gasly couldn’t go into much detail, but he did acknowledge that the car was not perfect:
“You guys want to know everything, but some things need to stay between. Inside the engineering room, but I’m sure you can figure out what it does to the car. It did what it’s supposed to do, so it’s up to us to try to find some set-up items to adjust it.
“If you ask me all in all, was it the perfect balance? No. But I think it was one of the fastest ways to go around Barcelona, and I’m happy with the compromise we made.”
