Pierre Gasly had a good first day of testing in Las Vegas. The Alpine F1 driver finished sixth and despite a complicated start to the day, he was pleased to have had good pace over one lap. On the other hand, long relays still remain delicate.
“It’s great to be back in Las Vegas at this truly unique circuit in Formula 1. As expected, the track conditions were initially difficult, with low grip and lots of sliding” Gasly said. “I quickly felt pretty good behind the wheel and we seemed competitive from Free Practice 1.”
“We finished FP2 in sixth place, so we are in the game and we know our targets – Haas and RB – are also in the game. We have to continue to work hard tonight since our long stint with a lot of fuel embedded was more complicated with graining.”
“The field is extremely tight and a tenth of a second can make a huge difference. We remain optimistic, but qualifying is one thing and the race is another, so we need to sort out some aspects if we want to get a good result.”
Esteban Ocon finished outside the top 10 but stored a lot of data: “I was excited to get back on the track in Las Vegas and drive under the lights of the Strip. It was a productive day and we have plenty to debrief tonight.”
“As expected, tire degradation and grip were key elements of today's sessions. We will focus on these topics as they will play an important role in the race, and we can try to take advantage of them as 'last year.'
“We need to find more performance before qualifying and I'm looking forward to Free Practice 3 to apply some improvements. The weekend won't be easy, but we will work together to maximize everything we can and aim for a positive result .”
