Pierre Gasly thrilled with ‘encouraging’ P7 in Austin qualifying as he hails ‘big step’ from Alpine upgrade

Pierre Gasly was delighted to claim seventh place on the grid during qualifying for the United States Grand Prix, with the Frenchman hailing the “big step” delivered by Alpine’s latest upgrade package.

Gasly reached Q3 for just the third time this season – and the first time since Zandvoort two months ago – at the Circuit of The Americas and promptly equalled his best grid slot of the year of P7, previously achieved in Barcelona back in June.

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Asked to reflect on his impressive lap after the session, the 28-year-old answered with a smile: “Yeah, I’m very happy. It’s been quite a long time since we made it to Q3, and I must say it was very enjoyable driving the car – we made quite a lot of changes after the Sprint.

“[We’re] still exploring this new package and the directions that we wanted to explore, and I think clearly there was a big step in terms of control and potential, and it was just so much nicer to drive and I think quite surprising to have found that much performance.