Pierre Gasly qualified for the French Grand Prix at home in vain – the AlphaTauri rider did not go to the second session and only set the sixteenth time. Much better was the session for his partner Yuki Tsunoda – the Japanese racer reached the final for the third time this season.
Yuki Tsunoda (8th): “It’s nice to be back in the qualifying final with a refurbished car – the great work of the team has put us in a good position. We’re back in the fight for the places we want to fight for, so I’m pretty happy, but tomorrow we have to finish the job.
We expected difficulties in adapting to the updated car, so the first and second training sessions proved difficult, but together with the engineers and mechanics we were able to bounce back. The team changed the balance settings, which helped right away – it was a turning point that allowed us to show today’s result.
All the base staff have done a great job improving the car in medium speed corners. If we talk about the long-term pace, it has also increased thanks to new products. We have improved our work with tires and expect to score points tomorrow.
The strategy will be important – you will have to choose between one and two pit stops, but I’m sure the team will make the right decision.”
Pierre Gasly (16th): “I am very disappointed that I missed a few thousandths to reach the second part of qualifying at home. Yesterday we were comfortably in the top ten and had a small speed reserve, but in the third practice I couldn’t repeat this pace. I have serious speed issues – we need time to analyze everything and understand the reasons.
I wasn’t competitive enough in qualifying – I lacked speed and now I don’t know why. I was doing clean laps, but the car was sliding a lot in slow corners.
Tomorrow is a new day and we apply a different strategy. There will be a lot of opportunities in the race, nothing has been lost yet – we have everything to recoup. The race will be long and difficult for everyone, but I hope we get a good result. It’s just great to race at home – I want to give my best.”
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
