A second consecutive Q3 for Gasly in Mexico: “We expected to have trouble getting out of Q1!”

It's a small feat that brightens up this rather gloomy season at Alpine. For the second consecutive time, Pierre Gasly managed to qualify for Q3 and finish in the Top 8 in qualifying. A week after his 7th place in qualifying in Austin (6th on the grid following George Russell's pit stop), the Frenchman almost repeated his performance by setting the 8th fastest time in Q3 on Saturday in Mexico. An achievement, too, because this passage into Q3 was far from being won for the Norman!

The Alpine, both equipped with the new developments, had not been very reassuring during Free Practice 3 before qualifying, with an 18th time for Esteban Ocon and the 20th and final time trial for Pierre Gasly. However, the Rouen native managed to find the right recipe during qualifying to get into the Top 10, something his teammate failed to do by failing in Q1.

“It feels extremely good, he rejoiced on Canal+. It was complicated all weekend, again [Saturday] morning, we were last [in FP3], we were struggling with grip. The feeling in the car was really not good. We had to make a lot of changes before qualifying, and we expected to have trouble getting out of Q1 and finally, we managed to get a second Q3 in a row. I'm really happy, I think we managed to optimize what we had."

🎙️"It feels good" 😌

Second Q3 in a row for Pierre Gasly, who positions his Alpine in 8th position 🤗#MexicoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/HK5Kj5HAsg

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) October 26, 2024

Gasly hopes for a much better Sunday than in Austin

Pierre Gasly will therefore start from the fourth row alongside Kevin MagnussenThe Frenchman, although happy to have qualified so high on the grid, still admitted a slight disappointment at having failed just six thousandths of a second behind the driver. Haas, which could have made him start from 7th but above all, from the clean side of the track.

“It’s also positive to see that the new parts are working, after the [exploitation] window looks quite narrow, but in any case, there is potential. I saw the gap to Magnussen… It’s a shame because my battery was empty before the finish line, so I lose energy and speed just before the line, said the pilot Alpine. However, we are once again in the fight for 7th place and to be in front of the midfield so it's really good."

Now, Pierre Gasly and especially Alpine must avoid repeating the same mistakes as in Austin, where the Norman lost the benefit of his 6th place on the grid due to a bad strategy and a missed pit stop. "We are well placed on the grid for tomorrow. Last week we had a good Saturday before a difficult Sunday. I hope we have learned from it and can fight for the points.", underlines the Frenchman, who has not scored any points since the Dutch Grand Prix last August.

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