Gasly happy after 'best Friday' of the season for AlphaTauri

Author of the 6th fastest time in Free Practice 1 at Monza on Friday morning, Pierre Gasly progressed to 4th place in the afternoon, enjoying the luxury of ahead of the fastest of the Red Bull, that of Max Verstappen, by a good tenth.

The only downside for the Norman: this small problem detected on a shock absorber of his AT01, which disrupted his work during long stints. Not enough to take away the smile from one of the men in good shape of the moment. 

« It was by far our best Friday since the start of the season, enthused Gasly on Friday evening. The driving sensations are excellent. I could attack and I managed to put in a few good laps. Unfortunately our session was cut short in the afternoon due to a problem with a shock absorber that occurred during our race simulation. 

The low downforce configuration we are using at Monza this weekend is giving satisfactory results and I am convinced that we can still improve between now and the qualifying session. I expect there will be some surprises after single engine mode is introduced ». 

His teammate Daniil Kvyat was not to be outdone with the 4th and 7th fastest times on the opening day in the suburbs of Milan. The Russian was, however, “ not entirely satisfied with his short stints ».

Jonathan Eddolls believes the FIA ​​technical directive regarding the abolition of the most aggressive engine maps could redraw the hierarchy in the middle of the grid but the chief engineer Alpha Tauri expects to find its pilots in the fight.

We would be surprised otherwise.