Pierre Gasly says he was surprised to qualify at the front of the midfield in Brazil.
The Toro Rosso driver qualified seventh behind the Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes cars. He is set to start from sixth position because of Charles Leclerc’s penalty.“I’m super-happy,” said Gasly. “For a midfield team like us, it’s our midfield pole position. It feels great to put this lap and get my best qualifying of the season with Toro Rosso on such a track where we knew it would be really, really small margins to make it. It feels great to qualify seventh.”
Gasly said he believed the team could be in contention to qualify well but was wary of the narrow margins between the teams at such a short track.
“To be fair we knew we were kind of competitive. But we knew at any point we could be out in Q1, like it happened for Danny [Kvyat], or maybe make it to Q3.
“Yesterday between seventh and 15th [it was] three tenths. And then we know usually on Saturday others find a bit more performance in quali, turning the engine up a bit more.
“We didn’t expect it so probably that’s why it feels even better. And then with Charles’ penalty, we start sixth so it’s really good.”
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JK
16th November 2019, 0:59
Gasly has been impressive at Torro Rosso this year. Strange that at RB he was so poor.
Maximilian (@maximilian)
16th November 2019, 20:43
It’s too bad he didn’t find this confidence in the Red Bull.
ruliemaulana (@ruliemaulana)
17th November 2019, 4:43
Marko was right. The two team getting more points because of the switch.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
17th November 2019, 11:44
It’s strange as before the switch I’d have thought Gasly as one of the weakest drivers on the grid. He looked slow, nervous in overtaking, made errors and wasn’t consistent at all. But since that move, he’s been like a different driver – fast, reliable, feisty and generally more carefully cautious and consistent than most of the midfield. He’s also shaded Kvyat completely.
As others have said I wonder why this form didn’t materialise in the Red Bull. I hope that wasn’t his only shot at the big team because on his Toro Rosso form alone he’s not bad and pretty deserving of another chance. That said maybe it’s easy to be very good in a car with limited expectations, but harder to be exceptional in a car where you’re expected to be all the time.
erikje
17th November 2019, 13:21
Thet’s the really surprising part.
Never imagined gasly to beat Kvyat in this style.