19/11/2022
NEWS STORY
Yuki Tsunoda: "I'm pretty happy with today, I made a bit of a mistake in Turn 6 on my final lap in Q2 but overall, I'm pleased with how it went, and the extra performance we were able to show in Quali. I really like the track here, it was my best placed finish last year with 4th, and we're starting just outside the points tomorrow, so hopefully something good can happen again. Obviously, we know it's going to be difficult, but our long-run pace was looking quite good yesterday, so I think there's a possibility to move ourselves forward tomorrow and score some all-important points, to allow us to finish the season in P8."
Pierre Gasly: "We have been playing catch-up all weekend as we've had difficulties setting up the car. Today we made a small step forward, but it wasn't enough. The car was sliding around in the low-speed corners and was still not the way I wanted it. Qualifying was like rush-hour in London, but I think it was the same for everyone. Tomorrow will be a long and difficult race, but there will be plenty of opportunities to make up some ground. Tomorrow will be the last time that I am dressed as a Scuderia AlphaTauri driver, so it is definitely an emotional and special weekend for myself and all the team. I have spent so much time with them over the last five years and I will remember those memories forever, so it is time to give it one final push."
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "We made a reasonable number of small adjustments to various parts of the set-up and tool settings overnight, in order to improve turn-in stability and mid-corner rotation, amongst other things. In FP3, Yuki reported some improvements, however Pierre had a front-right puncture on his first run, which limited running, and meant it was not possible to get a clear read on balance. Qualifying saw good progression from Yuki, making the cut for Q2 relatively easily, whilst Pierre's struggled a bit more on his final run and did not make it through on this occasion. In Q2, Yuki continued where he left off, putting a good lap on both his used and new tyre sets, but fell just short of Q3 finishing P12 in a very tight midfield. Looking ahead to tomorrow's race, tyre degradation has shown some signs of being higher than last year, so we need to keep an eye on this and be ready to take our chances to hopefully achieve the target of improving our Constructors' Championship position."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Yas Marina here.