Pierre Gasly had reason to smile on Friday at the French Grand Prix, his home, where he not only raced in front of his home crowd but also cracked the top 10 in first practice and after a few difficult weeks and a long wait to see To finally evolve the AlphaTauri AT03, the French driver tested the new parts installed on his car throughout the day. For the moment, the verdict is clear: progress is there.
“The most important thing for me was that we had a good performance, that we could show something good on the track,” he insists. “Today has been the case. That’s the most important thing and I hope we can continue and have good performances in the days after.”
Although the usual precaution must be taken, the times of the first two free practice sessions attest to this. Fifth this morning and especially seventh in the second session, considered more representative, Pierre Gasly felt he had greater potential behind the wheel and has acquired a conviction, that of fighting for the top 10 both in qualifying and in the race at the Paul Ricard circuit.
“It was a very good day,” the Frenchman repeated. “It was important to test these new improvements on the car, the new parts that we have brought. I think it was clearly positive. We have set the fifth fastest time this morning and the seventh this afternoon: I think the car has more potential. There are still some things we have to work on. It’s been a very good Friday and we’ll focus on tomorrow to get to Q3.”
The session has not been entirely easy and it is that during part of the day he said harsh words when he found Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and Alex Albon’s Williams in his way in the last session.
“Who has been the idiot,” Gasly said in the recording revealed by Formula 1 on his social networks. “This is the first day he’s racing or what,” said the Frenchman when meeting the two cars in the middle of the curve.
With information from Luke Smith
