Pierre Gasly - Moving on up 14.03.2023: STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX Jeddah Corniche Circuit 17-19 March 2023 Pierre Gasly scored two points on his Alpine debut, after rising from the back of the grid to ninth place in Bahrain. A disappointing Saturday Qualifying means Pierre is fi

STC SAUDI ARABIAN GRAND PRIX
Jeddah Corniche Circuit
17-19 March 2023





Pierre Gasly scored two points on his Alpine debut, after rising from the back of the grid to ninth place in Bahrain. A disappointing Saturday Qualifying means Pierre is fired up for a better performance in Saudi Arabia this weekend, where the Frenchman is determined to make it two top tens from two races in new colours.



What did you make of your team debut?


On the whole, I was pretty pleased, especially on Sunday to go from last to ninth and take home some points. I know there’s so much more to come from myself and from the team as we have not reached 100% yet.


That is why we also left Bahrain with some disappointment as not everything clicked together and it’s important we piece everything together to make sure we extract the maximum performance. I enjoyed my debut in Alpine colours, the entire team is so talented and motivated to succeed and I’m excited to see what we can achieve when we execute a smoother race weekend.





How did you recover from Saturday sadness to Sunday satisfaction?


I will not shy away from the fact that Saturday’s Qualifying was very frustrating. I love Qualifying and I pride myself on having the ability to pull together a good lap on absolute single pace, so to be out in Q1 and at the back of the grid was disappointing. I was very proud with how we all reacted to that setback on Sunday.


I always believed we could come through the field to score points as the car has been strong on high fuel. We had to work hard for it, nail a good strategy and we did just that, so that was pleasing. We must target being in Q3 as a minimum in Jeddah and put ourselves in a stronger position to score more points.





What are your thoughts ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?


I enjoy racing in Jeddah. It’s one of the best street circuits as it’s so quick with no real slow corners and it’s a great challenge, physically, for us drivers. Qualifying there is usually very exciting, and I’m determined to do better than I did in Bahrain, and I see this as an opportunity for redemption on Saturday.



 I’ve scored solid points in Saudi Arabia in 2021 and 2022, so it would be good to keep that trend going this year. I had a great day at Enstone last week in preparation on the simulator and I look forward to showing our potential.     



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