Driving his Alpine, Pierre Gasly clocked the eighth-best time in the qualifiers for the Spanish Grand Prix this Saturday in Barcelona. The French driver is fully satisfied with this result, aiming to finish at least as high on Sunday.
Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 8th in the qualifiers for the Spanish GP, speaking to Canal+: “I’m extremely happy, I think this is our best qualifying session of the year. We tried some things during the free practice 3 but they didn’t work out. So we had some questions before the qualifiers but I think we managed to do the laps when it mattered, pulling off a great lap in the end. This is clearly the best we could hope for, it’s pleasing. We know that our degradation is usually quite high. In qualifiers, I can get the most out of the car, but in the race, it’s a bit more complicated. We’ve prepared well, we’re going to fight. Those ahead of us have more pace in the race but we have to try to maintain, at least, this position.”
Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), 9th on the grid
“We can overtake here if we have the pace, so why not a two-stop strategy”
Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), 9th, speaking to Canal+: “I felt good about the car in Q1 but a driver was waiting for me to take advantage of my slipstream and he hindered me in the last sector. I lost time and almost got eliminated. I was very scared in the garage waiting for the times, it comes down to half a tenth. In Q2, I’m very happy with my second lap and then, we bet on the track improving at the very end of the session. We did a decent lap, I’m still happy with this 9th place. We worked hard on degradation during free practice, we know it’s going to be a challenge. We can overtake here if we have the pace, so why not a two-stop strategy.”
Esteban Ocon (Haas), 17th, speaking to Canal+: “It’s not the same track as Monaco (he finished 8th in the qualifiers last Saturday), there are a lot of different challenges. It was quite tight and we were just on the wrong side. We missed the Q2 qualification by a small tenth unfortunately. We’ll have to do the best race possible on Sunday, there’s going to be a lot of degradation. Our weekend is not over. Tyre management will be crucial, coming into the pit at the right time, watching what others are doing. We know a lot can happen.”
