Pierre Gasly: ​​“I found my smile again!”

Fifth in EL1, seventh in EL2…would we have found the car Alpha Tauri of 2021? One thing is certain, after the second free practice session held this Friday, we have clearly found the Pierre Gasly happy with the previous two seasons. “I found a smile again, he tells us, laughing. It was extremely frustrating in recent weeks with the level of performance we had. When everyone gives their all and it doesn't pay off, it's hard... I see smiles everywhere, even on the faces of the engineers. We needed this, we will now have to confirm tomorrow.”

If Pierre Gasly's AT03 was so efficient, it is because the Faenza team introduced a salvo of improvements supposed to allow the car to rely on more aerodynamic load. Lately, the Norman has been complaining a lot about the behavior of his car in slow corners, experiencing a lot of difficulty in turning it. The fast turns were hardly easier to handle with a slippery AT03.

Pierre Gasly takes more pleasure

“From that point of view, it’s clearly going in the right direction., confirmed Gasly. I immediately felt that we had more front end in the slow corners, then more aero load and potential in the fast ones. Of course, new issues have arisen with these new parts, but overall it's a good step forward. We needed it! We will have to understand the new concerns to achieve even more performance tomorrow. »

Pierre Gasly's Friday evening, as well as that of his engineers, will therefore be largely devoted to the data analysis of this first day rich in lessons. But they will obviously not forget to look at the heavy tire degradation noticed during free practice 2. “The degradation was clearly enormous, confessed the Frenchman. I have no comparison with the rest of the peloton, but it must not be good for anyone. They are forecasting 58°C on the track on Sunday, so we will have to be smart and anticipate problems with deterioration and overheating.” 

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