19/06/2021
NEWS STORY
Pierre Gasly: "It's a very good day and I'm really pleased to Qualify in sixth position. It's been quite a difficult weekend up to this point, I haven't felt that comfortable in the car and we've struggled a bit with the changing conditions. We'd made lots of set-up changes to the car across the weekend and it all came together for Qualifying. After the disappointment of finding out my lap was cancelled, I knew I had just one shot to get it right in Q3. My adrenalin levels were high, and I managed to put an even better lap together, so I'm very happy with that. Tomorrow will be interesting for us as we return to a normal race circuit, we're starting on the same tyres as everyone else, so strategy will be key. We'll give everything we have and hopefully we can get some good points here, in front of my home crowd."
Yuki Tsunoda: "It was my mistake today in Qualifying and I want to apologise to the team. I just used too much of the yellow curb at turn one and I spun out. I tried to brake as much as possible to avoid contact with the barrier, but it was like skating on ice as I was going backwards. It was fairly low impact, but there is some damage to the car so the team will have to work hard tonight to get me ready for tomorrow. The best way to thank the team would be to have a good race tomorrow. It's difficult to overtake here but I'll push as hard as I can every lap and use every opportunity I get."
Guillaume Dezoteux (Head of Vehicle Performance): "Unfortunately for Yuki Qualifying didn't last long today. The car was sharp at the start of the lap and he ran too tight in turn one, which meant he lost it. He sustained some damage on the rear-end but we will be able to fix it for tomorrow without a doubt. Pierre had a very strong Qualifying and we are delighted to see him getting such a great result at his home Grand Prix. Straight from the start of Qualifying Pierre was fast and we could see our balance was better compared to the previous sessions. He is in a strong position for tomorrow and we will now look at the strategy simulations to understand what scenario is best to allow us to bring home some good points."
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