Pierre Gasly felt the potential was there to make it through to at least the second phase of Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, but the Frenchman rued a mistake on his final quick lap in Q1 that resulted him ending up right at the back of the field.
The Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda driver was on a lap that would have seen him jump up the order and potentially make it through to Q2, but a trip across the gravel trap at turn three put paid to that, and he will start twentieth on the grid on Sunday.
“I’m really disappointed because it’s not the first qualifying we wanted and I think there was potential to get into Q2,” said Gasly.
“It was very close after the first run, but I just pushed too hard and locked up… and that was it, it was the only lap we had and by pushing hard I made a mistake. Up until Turn 3 I was two-tenths up on Brendon [Hartley] but this midfield is so tight that we need to get everything right.”
Turning his thoughts to race day, Gasly insists he will do everything he can to move forward, and he feels the STR13 is certainly capable of giving him the opportunity to gain positions.
“The degradation is quite high around here and at the moment we still don’t know what the conditions will be like tomorrow, so we need to come back and I’ll push hard to overtake,” said Gasly.
“It’s difficult to pass around this track so P20 is not ideal, but we’ll do everything we can to gain positions. I think the car definitely has more potential so I’m ready for a fight tomorrow.”
