Pierre Gasly was full of praise for his mechanics after they changed the front suspension of his STR13 in between final practice and Qualifying on Saturday as a precautionary measure following team-mate Brendon Hartley’s crash in the morning session at Silverstone.
Hartley’s left-front suspension failed heading towards Brooklands early on during the practice session, which sent the New Zealander spinning into the tyre wall, and after that Gasly failed to reappear as his Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda mechanics investigated the problem.
The team changed his suspension in time to get him out for Qualifying, and although they went into the session a bit blind with the set-up, he was able to qualify fifteenth on the grid.
“Not bad today, especially after a more difficult beginning to the weekend, as we had some issues which didn’t allow us to run much,” said Gasly. “After Brendon’s crash in FP3, we changed the whole front suspension and consequently also the setup, which meant we went into Qualifying a bit blind.
“The team was awesome as they finished the job so quickly for Qualifying, and in the end it was great! I felt really good with the car, so let me thank all the guys in the garage – great effort, fantastic job!”
Gasly revealed Toro Rosso are losing a lot of time in the straights compared to their rivals, but despite this he hopes to move forward on Sunday and perhaps challenge for the points.
“Looking at the GPS, we’re good in the corners but we’re losing some time on the straights compared to our main competitors, so it’s difficult to fight against these guys,” said Gasly.
“However, the race is tomorrow and we’ll try and take opportunities as they come.”
