‘Optimistic’ Gasly thinks AlphaTauri are ‘in the mix’ in Baku

Pierre Gasly has said the layout of the Baku circuit plays into AlphaTauri’s hands and he is confident the team is “in the mix.”

With speculation surrounding his future,Gaslywill hope to prove his ability this weekend having so far endured a frustrating season.

The Frenchman has gone pointless in the last four races and finds himself 14th in theDrivers Standings.

He is confident his form may soon be about to change as he believes the circuit in Baku lends itself to the strengths of theAlphaTauri他希望capatalise this weekend.

“It’s mainly the fact that we don’t have really high speed content, because we just know that the peak of downforce in our car is not quite there compared to our main rivals,” the 26-year-old saidas reported by Motorsport.com.

“So as soon as we go to tracks which are lower speed corners, less need for the loads, maybe more mechanical [grip], then the car behaves better.

“So I think that’s why coming to this weekend, we’re a bit more optimistic. And also, after what we saw in Monaco, like sector two, these type of corners, we were pretty good there. It’s a good start.”

Gasly finished ninth in FP1 before improving on that for a P6 finish in FP2. He, alongside Fernando Alonso who finished fourth in FP2, showed their pace and both will be hoping to transfer that into Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.

“Clearly, I think we are in the mix,” he said. “We are not alone. I mean, I’m quite impressed with Alonso, I must say, and it’s like the straight line speed they have.

hitting the ground running in Baku gonna work hard and bring the momentum into Quali day

— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1)June 10, 2022

“He is there. Mercedes is there obviously, and we know [Lando] Norris when it comes to qualifying is also always right up there. So I think we’re going to be [fighting with] a couple of cars, but at least we are in the mix.”

His team-mateYuki Tsunoda, who ended FP2 in eighth ahead of Norris and Esteban Ocon, said the team’s understanding of the car was improving and that was contributing to the better performances.

“I think we understand the car more and we kind of expect these kinds of performance,” the Japanese driver said.

“As a team we know what strengths we have for the car and weak points for the car. So we have a kind of idea as to how the car might behave on a track.

“At the moment it is only expectations. So yeah, I mean, we just have to maximise this opportunity to score points for the future.”