Pierre Gasly 3rd in qualifying in Las Vegas: A truly special lap

Las Vegas is smiling at him. Already last year, Pierre Gasly had climbed into the top 5 of the qualifications for the Las Vegas Grand Prix in F1. He is doing it again this year, and in a remarkable way! Since the Friday tests, he has been in a good rhythm. Present in the top ten in every session, he will start from the second row for the race. It’s a smiling Alpine driver who spoke to Canal + microphone after the session:

« It’s really incredible, I’m extremely happy. It was a truly special lap. It’s true that on this circuit we are right next to the walls, we push the limits. When we crossed the line in Q3, we only had one set of new tyres compared to the others around us. And when I crossed the line, I knew it was really a nearly perfect lap, but to put us in the top 3 was truly unexpected. We knew we could fight for Q3. But to have 2 McLarens and Max behind us, we definitely didn’t predict that. It’s very pleasing.

Brazil, a turning point in its end of season?

Before the three-week F1 break, the Sao Paulo Grand Prix had reserved a completely crazy scenario that had smiled at the 2 Alpine drivers. A double podium, a first for the French team:

« It is true that in recent weeks, following Brazil, there is clearly a positive trend. It boosts everyone’s morale. Now we know that last year I was already very fast in qualifying here. Racing is complicated with the graining tires, so we will have to work hard tonight to try to maximize and be able to compete tomorrow with the surrounding cars.

The Las Vegas Strip is the first challenge to overcome. Tire warm-up on this cold track is not expected to be easy: We know that the first corner is very tricky because there is very little grip. Especially at the start, when we do the warm-up laps we don’t go through the first corner. So it will really be the first time at the start. We will have to be attentive, seize opportunities.

A new podium in sight?

The challenge for Pierre Gasly now is to turn this good qualifying into big points on Sunday. He will start between the two Ferraris , quite a challenge:

« For the moment, I’m more focused on Carlos Sainz ahead (laughs). But if Charles wants to focus on me, there’s no problem […] It’s true that there’s Charles behind, there’s Max, Norris… all these guys. We know that in terms of race pace they are much faster. Then, in Vegas, we saw that with tire degradation it can quickly become complicated. So, we’ll have to try to manage things well on our side already.