It was a disappointing Qualifying for Scuderia AlphaTauri at the Austrian Grand Prix, with Pierre Gasly to start Saturday’s Sprint race from eleventh and Yuki Tsunoda in fourteenth, at the Red Bull Ring.
Gasly was once again top dog at AlphaTauri; however, never truly looked like threatening a place in Qualifying Three. Having ended Free Practice One in tenth, it was already predicted that the Frenchman would come close to the final part of qualifying, but unfortunately missed out by just nine thousandths of a second.
Despite just missing out, Gasly is nevertheless upbeat about his chances in both the sprint and the main race. The French driver is also full of confidence that a top ten place will come easier when the next set of upgrades are fitted to the AT03.
“I’m pretty happy with today, we haven’t had any upgrades for a few races, so we know compared to other cars we’ve been struggling quite a bit more lately. It’s always frustrating to miss out on Q3 by such a small margin, but I must say I was pleased with my lap, it was pretty tidy and I was able to put it altogether for Quali today.
“We’re starting just out of the top 10 for the Sprint tomorrow, so we’re in a good position to make our way forward and hopefully move into the points on Sunday. We need to work more, as we can’t be satisfied with the overall performance, but we know we have some upgrades coming, so if we are able to improve from this current baseline then we should be quite competitive in the upcoming races.”
“I had a huge snap at Turn One” – Yuki Tsunoda
Tsunoda finished qualifying visibly frustrated and angry, after shouting at what appeared to be himself on the team radio. The young Japanese driver made a costly error on his final lap in Q2, which saw him run deep and over the sausage kerb at Turn One. This resulted in a fourteenth place start for Saturday’s sprint, which will decide the grid for Sunday’s race.
Tsunoda thinks he could’ve made the top ten had he not made the error, but remains happy with the pace of the car.
“I’m really disappointed with today. I was happy with the balance of the car and how we were progressing through Quali, but unfortunately on my last push in Q2 my tyres were cold, I had a huge snap at Turn 1, this ruined my lap, so I couldn’t progress further. I think the pace of the car was quite good and we had a chance to get through to Q3 today, so it’s a real shame.”
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