2
Pierre Gasly took his best qualifying result of the season in China but admits that he is still not happy with his driving inside the Red Bull RB15.
The Frenchman is set to start Sunday's race from sixth on the grid but was almost nine-tenths down on teammate Max Verstappen in qualifying, who will line-up alongside him on the third row.
Shanghai's qualifying session marked Gasly's first Q3 appearance of the year, and admitted that sixth was the maximum he could have hoped for as he continues to struggle with the car.
"It has been quite a tricky weekend overall, so coming out of qualifying with P6 is the best we could achieve," Gasly said. "That was the target coming into the session and I think we can be satisfied with the position.
"Still lacking pace and I'm not fully satisfied with my driving, there are still a few things to sort out. But we will take P6 for the race tomorrow."
Gasly didn't manage to set a final lap as he crossed the finish line too late. He was one of four that missed out, as Verstappen and the Haas duo also saw the chequered flag before crossing the finish line.
"I didn't manage to get the last run, but we all have the same numbers, we all have the latest we can leave the garage to get the best track [conditions] and it was messy. We didn't make it by three seconds.
"It wasn't ideal but at the end of the day, it wouldn't have changed our position. I was one of the last out, I overtook [Kevin] Magnussen and [Romain] Grosjean. Max was in front of me, but then we didn't make it."
Gasly confirmed that the issues that he is having with the car remain related to the rear, which hampered his progress at the opening two rounds of the year in Australia and Bahrain.
"It's quite similar to last weekend [in Bahrain], with the rear being quite tricky," he said. "Clearly, we know that it is the rear. We need to improve, I know I need some work to go around it and maximise the car itself.
"I probably need to change my driving a bit, and find a direction to make it [the car] smoother and suitable to my driving. There are some positives, we just need to keep working together and we will get there."
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
67,013 comments on Alpha Tauri
3 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Pierre Gasly
767,999 comments on Red Bull Racing 673 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Red Bull Racing
Replies (2)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Rightly so, because currently he is not up to scratch. He need to git gud, or Kvyat will probably grab it in his stead.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
He was once again dreadful. Better, but still in the dreadful category. Unfortunately for RED Bull, I am not sure Kvyat is making it easy for himself to be picked as a replacement. Albon has been better all around, but he's definitely still a rookie. Either way, I think a demotion would actually be a blessing for Gasly. Each race he's lowering his stock by qualifying 0.600 behind max, and not making it or barely making it to Q3 in quali