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.

READ MORE: Norris clinches pole position ahead of Verstappen in Austin as Russell dramatically crashes out in final moments

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.

“But, yeah, it’s definitely encouraging for the future.”

In terms of whether the car can continue to offer this level of performance heading into Sunday’s race, Gasly added: “I hope so, I hope so.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Catch the qualifying action from Austin as Norris takes spectacular pole while Russell crashes out

However, he went on to acknowledge the competition posed by their rivals; Gasly will have Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin alongside him on the grid in eighth, while the Haas of Kevin Magnussen will line up just behind in ninth place.

“We saw with the Aston, Fernando was behind I think in the Sprint, we saw we were kind of battling with each other,” Gasly continued. “Haas were very, very fast, so we’ll see tomorrow how they do.

“But starting from seventh, for sure we’ve definitely got to capitalise on it and try to score points as well. We haven’t been finishing in the top 10 for a while, I know it will definitely be a nice reward for the guys after bringing this new package.”

READ MORE: Alpine present Indiana Jones-inspired livery for United States Grand Prix

Alpine currently sit P9 in the constructors’ standings with 13 points, putting them just three away from Williams in P8.