Pierre Gasly goes into this weekend’s inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, on the back of a mixed Qatar Grand Prix where he took his first front-row start since he raced in Super Formula back in 2017, he’ll be hoping to take this qualifying speed into the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Whilst his qualifying speed was exceptional in Qatar, his race pace was not. Both Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda struggled in the race and dropped backwards in rapid fashion. This weekend offers a new opportunity to Gasly to further excel, the Frenchman has had a brilliant campaign so far and will be looking for a strong end to the season.
The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver believes this weekend will be very complicated for all the drivers and that it will be an exciting challenge.
“Saudi will be extremely quick, with a large number of very high-speed corners, some of them blind. I think it’s going to be very complicated from a driving point of view and there will be the extra challenge of the track surface being completely new.
“No cars have ever raced on it, there will be no rubber down and probably some oil will still be coming out of the tarmac, which is what normally happens at a new circuit. So, we are looking at a street circuit with quite low grip, which is a new challenge as no one has any data from the track.”
“I am in the same situation as the other drivers” – Yuki Tsunoda
Yuki Tsunoda has found some pace across the last few races, the Japanese rookie will be hoping to keep his better form going this weekend in Saudi Arabia where he will be on a level playing field.
Tsunoda is in the rare position this weekend of having the same knowledge of a circuit as the rest of the paddock, despite being a rookie. This presents Tsunoda with an excellent opportunity to be in the top ten, if he can navigate all twenty-seven corners quickly enough!
Tsunoda knows the importance of getting up to speed quickly this weekend, where being confident in the car will be essential to a fast lap time.
“It’s really fast and that means confidence in the car will be an important factor, because the run-off areas are not so big. It will be important for me to do a good job of building up speed during the free practice sessions. At least I am in the same situation as the other drivers, as this circuit will be completely new to everyone, just like Qatar.“
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