Pierre Gasly is satisfied with his superb qualification in Las Vegas, despite a race which ended after four laps after his engine broke. The Alpine F1 driver salutes the work carried out since the Bahrain Grand Prix (photo at bottom), the inaugural round of the season in which he and Esteban Ocon qualified 19th and 20th.
“It was a good qualifying yes. I think overall we are in better shape since Austin. We brought in some new parts, we managed to reach Q3 the last four weekends and it looks like We found a good rhythm.” Gasly said.
“I think in Vegas we made the most of the conditions. It was quite tricky, a street track, very cold. The car handled well. And when we got to Q3, we didn't We only had one lap, but we really managed to pull out all the stops and yes, it put us in a good position.”
“So it's a big achievement, especially when you remember Bahrain, the first race of the year, where I lined up in 20th position. We were absolutely nowhere. So when you look at the whole evolution and development, it definitely shows that we're going in the right direction and that's really positive.”
The Frenchman is convinced that his team still has a chance of reaching sixth place: “I think we can be confident. We are in the fight for sixth place in the championship. We know the target. We know who we are fighting against. Haas and AlphaTauri (sic) are also competitive.”
“They have shown that they are in the top 10 in most of the last races. It will be a close fight, but I expect it to be exciting. So I am sure we will be in the running. J “Looking forward to these last two weekends.”
As he discussed Alpine's start to the season, he explained why the performances were so far off: “I would say it's a very disappointing start to the season. We expected it. We had a difficult winter, we didn't manage to get the car to where we wanted to start in Bahrain.”
“But once you have the tools that you have at the start of the year, you have to do the best you can with them. And I have to be very impressed with how the team was able to turn things around. Understanding, identifying the car's limitations and finding solutions.”
“And I have to say that I'm more confident than ever that we're going into 2025 with a clear idea of where we're going and what changes we're going to make. I really believe that the car will be in a much better place. position to begin with. And yes, it brings confidence to all of us.”
“So there's been a lot of changes. I think there's been a lot of positive changes internally, which aren't very obvious from the outside. But I think we're a much better team for the start of the year 2025 compared to where we were a few months ago.”
It seems time for progression for the French team before the 2025 season: “There's still a lot, a lot of work to do. You know, when you look at the top four, it still feels like they're in a different league.”
“That's especially the case on race day. But yeah, we really have to start, hopefully, close that gap and see ourselves able to fight more regularly in the top 10 and, hopefully, in the top 5 on certain occasions.”
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