Gasly delighted with ‘amazing’ Qatar qualifying despite late puncture drama

Pierre Gasly couldn’t keep the smile of his face after taking a superb fourth in qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix, despite his front wing shattering on a kerb late on, which then triggered a puncture…

The Frenchman looked mighty through the one-hour qualifying session – and delivered a stunning lap on his first timed run in Q3. He was just over a tenth quicker on his second run, but the front wing break ended his hopes of completing the lap, after he ran over the kerb at Turn 15, lost the element and then saw his tyre blow.

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“It’s a shame, the [second] lap was coming amazingly,” said Gasly. “We finished P4, but I was another tenth and a half faster in my last lap.

“To be honest, I don’t know what happened. I exited on the kerb and the whole front wing went under the car, blew the whole front right tyre and that was it.

“Unexpected fireworks coming out of the car, but what is most important is the whole qualifying was amazing, and to finish behind the top two teams is just amazing.”

Gasly, who sits ninth in the drivers’ championship and will start fourth, decided to go through Q2 on the soft after going through the data on Friday night and that means he will have a tyre advantage off the line versus the three cars in front of him.

WATCH: Catch up on all the action from qualifying in Qatar

“After last night, we looked at all the numbers and I was really clear in which tyre I wanted to use in Q2, because it’s a long start actually,” he said.

“Until Turn 1, it’s a pretty long straight, so I really wanted to maximise the start performance. For me it was clear to start with the option. It gives us the flexibility in the race with the tyres. We have plenty of tyres that’s the main thing.”