COTA bumps “seem even more severe now” – Pierre Gasly

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda will be hoping to take their strong performance from the Turkish Grand Prix, into this weekends American Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

Pierre Gasly had an excellent race in Turkey, the Frenchman was able to run a similar pace to all of the top teams in the championship, resulting in an excellent points finish. COTA hasn’t been the best track for Gasly in the past, his best finish at the circuit came in the form of tenth place in 2019, which due to the Coronavirus pandemic was the last time Formula One visited Austin.

Gasly is a big fan of the track and how it feels to drive, however is aware that this weekend may not be completely plain-sailing due to the horrendous track surface.

“I’ve not yet had any great races in Austin, the best I did was 10th the last time we were there. In terms of driving, the track is really exciting, very fast and I particularly like the first sector which resembles Suzuka a bit. After that, the second sector is a bit slower and more technical. Overall, it’s very interesting, although I think it could be quite complicated this weekend.

“Having watched MotoGP a few weeks back, the bumps which were already pretty bad last time we raced there, seem even more severe now. It will require some sort of compromise on set-up, but we won’t really know until we get there. I’m not particularly worried about it, because our car is working well everywhere at the moment and we just have to avoid any problems waiting to ambush us, so that we can continue to close in on Alpine in the championship.”

“My first trip to the United States” – Yuki Tsunoda

Yuki Tsunoda also had a strong Grand Prix in Turkey, until he span. The Japanese rookie showed the speed he demonstrated right at the start of the season, the team will be hoping he can show this ability again in America.

It will be another tricky weekend for Tsunoda though, with COTA being another track he’s never raced at before, in fact the final round of the championship in Abu Dhabi is the only race remaining where he has raced in the past. It won’t just be Tsunoda’s first visit to COTA but to America completely, the youngster is very excited for his first trip across the pond.

“After Istanbul, I spent a couple of days in the simulator and drove the COTA track. It seems to be a very interesting circuit, with many different types of corner and that steep climb to the first blind corner. That first sector is like a rollercoaster. I’m looking forward to experiencing it for the first time. I saw that the MotoGP riders were complaining about the track surface, so we will have to see if they have managed to do anything about that in time for this weekend.
 
“It will also be my first trip to the United States and I’m looking forward to that. America has always been on the list of countries I really want to visit, so I’m excited about this trip. I’ve heard all about the barbecue restaurants in Austin and I will be keen to try that and see how it rates compared to Japanese Wagyu beef!”

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