Pierre Gasly: ​​“Our race is against Fernando Alonso and Alpine »

In delicacy with his Alpha Tauri AT02 on Friday, Pierre Gasly and his team found the solutions to allow the French driver to get the most out of his machine this Saturday. Best time in Free Practice 3 on a wet track, the Normand will finally start fourth on the starting grid at Otodrom Istanbul Park. "Yesterday, I really wasn't at comfortable, he confided in the mixed zone after qualifying. I didn't like the car at all and asked to make big changes to have more front end. As of today, it has worked much better. I'm really happy, because it's always risky to make big changes especially when you don't have FP3 to check, but it was clearly the right thing to do. »

Also read > Gasly and AlphaTauri looking for the right settings

The 2020 Monza winner was even in provisional third position until his friend Charles Leclerc steals this place from him in the last moments of the session. “He really did a good job qualification, congratulated Pierre Gasly. Ferrari have been performing well since FP1 and we didn't expect to find ourselves in the second row next to them. We are a few hundredths behind him, a tenth behind Max (Verstappen), it's very positive looking at where we were yesterday. » If a second podium this season seems within reach of the Rouennais, he prefers to focus on his direct pursuer at the start. “Our race is against Fernando (Alonso) who leaves just behind us, and against Alpine. It's going to be very intense, but we're in a good place and I can't wait to see what we can do. » With Lewis Hamilton in eleventh place, the driver at number 10 will also have a lot to do with the expected rise of the seven-time world champion towards the top places in the ranking: “We always try to defend when we are on the floor. It's racing, I'm not here to let anyone pass, but I'm not going to do anything stupid either. »