Pierre Gasly was perhaps the real star of qualifying, the Toro Rosso driver achieving an outstanding sixth place in a session in which he was the first to be surprised by the performance of his car.
The Frenchman enjoyed a solid succession of segments Saturday evening in Sakhir, never putting a foot wrong and able to rely on an STR13 that has been sturdy and fast since the start of the Bahrain GP weekend.
“We didn’t expect it to be fair,” admitted Gasly, speaking to Sky Sports
“The car was fantastic since the beginning of the weekend, we saw that we had some good potential but to be P6 in qualifying is just amazing!
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“I’m really happy, I think we just need to go through the data why we’re that fast actually, because we had small upgrades on the car but they seem to work much better than expected.”
The 22-year-old will actually lineup fifth on Sunday’s grid thanks to Lewis Hamilton’s five-spot demotion. Galsy reckons his car’s performance could be challenged in race conditions but he’s determined to hold his own, or at the very least aim for a top-10 finish.
“In terms of pace in the long runs, we seem to be okay in terms of degradation,” he said.
“We know it’s usually a bit tougher for us in the race with energy management and everything but the car seems to work fantastically this weekend.
“I think we have a great opportunity to score our first points, I really hope we can make it happen tomorrow.”
©WRI2
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