Jody Egginton, Technical Director at Scuderia AlphaTauri, says that the team were able to gather “a good amount of tyre and aero data from Friday” on a weekend where power unit penalties have shaken the entire starting grid up. Pierre Gasly finds himself on the third row of the grid, in sixth, having qualified in ninth place; while Yuki Tsunoda will start from the back of the grid due to mechanical penalties.
Egginton says that the team will try to ‘find clean air’ for the Japanese driver, who will start alongside Lewis Hamilton on the tenth row.
“We gathered a good amount of tyre and aero data from Friday on both sides of the garage, so we had a good view on which way we needed to go to improve the car and the set-ups converged overnight. FP3 went smoothly today, with further data being gathered on all three tyre compounds and both sides of the garage heading into Qualifying in reasonable shape.
“Both cars navigated Q1 fairly easily, but given Yuki’s penalties, once he was safely into Q2, there was no major incentive for him to make further runs. So, the focus shifted to maximising Pierre’s opportunities.
“Following his first run, the expectation was that making the cut to Q3 was possible with a clean second run. However, as it turned out the cut-off was closer than anticipated, with some gravel on track at Turn 5 costing some lap time, but fortunately he made the cut for Q3.”
The Technical Director then explained a lap deletion that cost Gasly (what would have been) a fifth place starting position on Sunday.
“[It’s a] shame that on his push Q3 lap track limits were exceeded at T6, meaning Pierre’s best lap time was deleted and a position was lost to Ricciardo. However, with numerous PU penalties to be applied across the grid, we currently expect to be starting 6th tomorrow.
“We go into tomorrow’s race with both cars looking reasonably competitive in the midfield, Pierre is well placed to fight for points and Yuki, although further back, has shown strong pace here so far this weekend and should move forward if we can find some clean air for him.”
AlphaTauri are currently eighth in the Constructors’ Standings, just four points ahead of Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team – and will be hoping to close in on Haas F1 Team with their high starting position on Sunday.
