Pierre Gasly described the lap which earned him fifth on the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix as the best of his F1 career to date.
The Toro Rosso driver set the sixth-quickest time in Q3 but will move up to fifth on the grid after Lewis Hamilton’s penalty is applied.
Gasly said the lap was “great timing” on his first appearance in Q3.
“For sure I didn’t expect to be P6 but when I closed the lap I was like OK, I’ve given everything I had, and it was just a great feeling when they told me I was P6.”
Gasly was concerned he wouldn’t make the cut for the top 10 after an unsuccessful attempt to use Fernando Alonso’s slipstream in Q2.
“I tried to get the tow from Fernando but I got a bit too close to him so it wasn’t ideal for my lap. I was losing performance. After I finished I didn’t know if we were going to Q3 but finally it worked out.”
The STR13 is handling much better in Bahrain than it was in Melbourne, Gasly explained. Last weekend he had a “quite different balance between entry to mid-corner and then instability and wash out at the apex – not really balanced from entry to exit.”
“This weekend the balance is really good, overall grip is good. I think we made a step also on the aero with our set-up. We seem to be much better in the medium-high speed compared to Melbourne.”
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2018 F1 season
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sumedh
7th April 2018, 19:59
Just saw his interview where he said that he was surprised at the pace of the car. Mclaren and Ferrari have both expressed surprise at the performance of their cars. Perhaps, something was genuinely weird about qualifying this time.
Also, I may have been too quick to put blame on Mclaren in the other thread too :)
Julian (Mr. Sakura) (@xiasitlo)
7th April 2018, 20:03
What’s even more astonishing is the fact that they lost the most time in the twisty S2. That’s fascinating to say to the least. What could this engine, with a little bit more efficiency and a tier 1 chassis do? There must be one other team willing to find that out….
Neil (@neilosjames)
7th April 2018, 20:07
Break down again, probably.
Julian (Mr. Sakura) (@xiasitlo)
7th April 2018, 20:27
Just like that public believe in Nando every start of the year. Ah, fun world.
TomMK (@tommk)
8th April 2018, 12:31
haha!
elio (@elio)
7th April 2018, 20:07
Forget the overrated Dutch kid. Gasly is the one to watch in the near future.
MacLeod (@macleod)
7th April 2018, 20:13
Lol wishfull thinking!
Nigel
7th April 2018, 22:38
Look where he has put that Honda powered car. He beat Hulk, Alonso, Gro, Mag, Ocon, Perez not bad for a rookie. Impressive if u ask me.
Patrick (@anunaki)
8th April 2018, 11:58
How is Max overrated? 20 years old, 3 time GP winner, out paced RIC last last season.
It’s a shame Max isn’t allowed to do unlimited testing like other top driver on the current grid could when they came up. He would have been even better
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
7th April 2018, 20:21
I was pleased with the results of both Toro Rosso – Honda cars, but Pierre’s 6th place (adjusted to 5th) was outstanding. I hope they can sustain this performance for the rest of the season.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
7th April 2018, 20:24
You feel that? That is the feel of a sick burn
Jere (@jerejj)
7th April 2018, 20:35
Kitto toberu sa, on Honda power!
d0senbrot (@d0senbrot)
7th April 2018, 21:16
Happy for Pierre, but I am not surprised that he delivered after his great season in the very competitive Super Formula.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
8th April 2018, 6:45
I was right on Gasly ;-)
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
8th April 2018, 14:44
Yeah, I’ll have to keep an eye on him now. It looks like Hartley’s going to have to earn his stripes. It’ll be interesting to watch those 2 compete and to see how Honda does sans McLaren. This might be the change that Honda needed.
Balue (@balue)
8th April 2018, 14:21
Super impressive, both driver and car
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
8th April 2018, 14:46
It’s so vital for Honda to be able to have a competitive and reliable engine in F1 because they are not a works team and therefore don’t have any incentive in creating an engine that suits one car over another.
Any engine manufacturer entering F1 (especially if they are not a works team for the 1st 5 years) should be allowed to run a test team in practices or outside races (to keep costs low) so they can catch up. You can’t come in and develop an engine from the ground up only by running it when participating in races. It’s almost a joke when I say but that’s what Honda had to do.