Zandvoort succeeds rather well in Pierre Gasly. A year after his only podium of the 2023 season during the Dutch Grand Prix, the Norman won an almost unexpected Q3 this Saturday during qualifying. Unexpected, because the A arrow weekend had started badly, with an A524 difficult to drive. Transparent on Friday, the Blues did not start in good conditions to seek Q3, but the No. 10 managed to set the right times at the right times to place his Alpine in 10th place on the grid.
A third consecutive passage in Q3 which gives (a little) smile to the French clan and to Pierre Gasly, aware however that it will be very difficult to get points on Sunday. Behind him, the Ferrari de Carlos Sainz and Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton will be on the lookout. However, faced with the Williams byAlexander albon in front of him (8th), the Norman will not only have to defend his position, but also try to attack with a view to the Manufacturers' championship.
Pierre Gasly (Alpine), 10th in qualifying at Zandvoort at the microphone of Canal+ : “I’m really satisfied. It was a complicated day [Friday], the feeling in the car was not very good and we knew it was going to be complicated. Before qualifying, we knew it was going to be very hot to get through to Q2. Finally, we focused on ourselves, on doing good exit laps, on having the tires at the right temperature, on not overdoing it especially in these conditions, and I managed to do good laps at the when it was needed. We manage to get through to Q3 just ahead of a Ferrari and a Mercedes. This is the most we could have done with the car. The next challenge is to stay in the Top 10 [Sunday]. »
(On his first place during EL3) “That’s more for you, to keep you motivated behind the screens! It's sure that it's always nice afterwards, it's only Free Practice, it would be better to do it in qualifying. We are working on it, we know that for the moment we have a car that is not as efficient as we would like, but there are a lot of improvements that will come. I am sure the future will be better for us. »
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Yves-Henri RANDIER
24/08/2024 at 05:27 a.m.
Good luck tomorrow in Rouen with a Ferrari and a Mercedes behind him at the start!