A 2nd fastest time then a 17th, Gasly's yo-yo in Bahrain: "More difficulty with the soft tires"

When it came to taking a look at the classification of the first free practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix, some people must have been surprised to see Pierre Gasly finish 2nd, only behind Lando Norris. Unfortunately, this result does not necessarily confirm progress in terms of performance for Alpine to the point of hoping to fight for big points this weekend after a difficult start to the season.

In a session where many young drivers took the wheel like Dino Beganovic at Ferrari, Ayumu Iwasa at Red Bull or Frederik Vesti at Mercedes, the conditions also had their importance in the final classification. The fact that the track was not yet rubberized allowed some to stand out a little more, like the Norman, who took advantage of his pace on hard tires.

During the second outing of the day, he logically regained his position when the work was mainly focused on the soft tires and everyone let loose (or almost), with the 17th final time. A performance gap that in no way surprises Pierre Gasly, aware that there are still many points to improve before qualifying (18 p.m.).

« The conditions are very different from what we experienced during the pre-season tests here in Bahrain., he points out, referring to the coolness that marked the winter tests in February. In Free Practice 1, it was extremely hot and grip was very low throughout. It was quite nice to be second, even though it wasn't a typical session for several reasons. In FP2, the feeling was initially good with the hard tires, but we seemed to struggle more with the soft ones.

It's important that we understand this compound better and see how we can optimize it over a lap. The field is still extremely close, and I remain optimistic about our progress between now and Saturday. We'll work hard and make sure we put everything together in qualifying. »

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