28/09/2022
NEWS STORY
Pierre Gasly: We are one point behind seventh place in the Constructors' so our goal over the last six races this year has to be to at least move up as much as possible, and it's looking very tight. It's not impossible for us to catch Alfa Romeo for sixth, but it might be complicated and depend on us having a really great end to the season. We have to aim to score points with both cars as often as possible, even if it's not easy.
That does not change our approach to each race weekend, which is to try and get the most out of the car and to do everything as well as possible as a team. We come to a part of the season, the last part, all outside Europe, with very different types of circuits that we do not know as well as those nearer to home, starting with Singapore and Japan where we have not raced for a couple of years. Therefore, anything could happen. In the last triple header, we scored points in two of the three races, and we must continue with this more positive trend that began back in Spa.
We start this final part of the year in Singapore, which is one of my favourite tracks. I finished in the points the last time we raced there in 2019. It's a very technical track, with a lot of corners, a lot of rhythm to it and very twisty. It's a complicated street circuit which means you cannot make any mistakes at all, so it's challenging in terms of the level of concentration required. We should also have an aero update for this race, so we will see what it brings in terms of performance.
Yuki Tsunoda: I am very happy that my contract has been extended for another season. It was confirmed to me a short while ago, a few days before the announcement last week. I was fairly confident that I would be staying, but there was a bit of stress until it was confirmed, obviously that doesn't bother you when you're in the car, but off-track you do think about it a bit. So, I can head into Singapore and Japan with none of these worries, allowing me to focus only on the race weekend and my preparations - I'm excited!
I don't think Singapore will be an easy event for me as it will be my first time at this circuit, but I will just try to build up lap by lap during practice with my usual process for a new track. It will be difficult, but if we can get more performance out of the car then our target has to be aiming to score points. I've driven the Singapore circuit on the simulator, and it is definitely a busy track, where you are constantly moving the steering wheel with no place to rest on the lap. It will be physically demanding because of the weather being humid and hot, but we get similar conditions in Japan at certain times of the year, so I have an idea of what to expect. I've been doing specific training to prepare and adapt for these conditions for some time now, and I also think getting used to working on European time should not be too much of a problem.