Pierre Gasly quotes ahead of Portuguese and Spanish Grands-Prix 27.04.2021: 2021 PORTUGUESE & SPANISH GRANDS PRIX Pierre Gasly: “Looking back at the last round in Imola, there are some positives to take away from what was a disappointing weekend in terms of the result. We were in

 
2021 PORTUGUESE & SPANISH GRANDS PRIX



Pierre Gasly:



“Looking back at the last round in Imola, there are some positives to take away from what was a disappointing weekend in terms of the result. We were in the top ten for all free practice sessions and were again in the top five in Qualifying - three and a half tenths off the pole time - which must be one of the best Qualifying times for the team.


Seventh in the race is still a good result, even if we know we should have done better. We’ll discuss it as a team and see how we can make sure it doesn’t happen again.
 


Last year I had a good race in Portimao, finishing fifth. It’s a really unique circuit with all the gradient changes, going up and down like a rollercoaster. It’s fun driving there and very different to what we’re used to - as a low grip track, the car slides a lot and it’s not easy to get the tyres up to temperature.



We will be running the C1 hard tyres and last year, especially in FP1 they were very hard to warm up, but this time we have a bit more knowledge and experience and the weather will certainly be warmer this year.  So, we will face a different challenge to the ones from the first two races.


 
After two races, we are now used to only having an hour for each free practice session. It hasn’t changed our work programme, but it does mean the track is busier with more cars out at the same time, so there is a bit more action and you spend less time waiting in the garage. I quite like it, as the sessions are more intense.
 


Moving on to Spain, it will be the first time that we won’t be comparing how the car has evolved since winter testing there. It’s not a bad track, even if we know that on Sunday, it’s not the easiest for overtaking. It means that Qualifying is very important and so far, we have managed to have a couple of very good Saturday afternoons, which is encouraging.


We must concentrate on trying to ensure our Sundays are better. The track layout has changed at the hairpin, so it will be interesting to see what effect that has on the lap. What we have seen, is that the car has worked well at the first races and they always say that Barcelona provides a good test of what your car is really like.



As it will be the fourth race of the season, we will already have a better idea of how it performs at various types of tracks and where we stand compared to the other teams. The key now is to ensure we capitalise on our good Qualis to chase a bigger points score.”





Fabiana Valenti, photo Red Bull