"Tomorrow is gonna be tough": Pierre Gasly shares his mindset after a brilliant qualifying for Alpine

Pierre Gasly admits that replicating his top-10 qualifying result in the British GP race could be a challenge. Speaking to the media including Sportskeeda, ahead of Sunday’s race at Silverstone, the Frenchman expressed concerns about Alpine’s performance in race trim.

Gasly delivered a strong final lap in Q3 to secure tenth on the grid, a result that came after a close call in Q1 where he narrowly avoided elimination. He then outperformed several faster cars in Q2 to reach the top 10.

However, the Alpine driver remains cautious about the team’s race-day prospects. He acknowledged that Silverstone has not traditionally suited the Alpine package and expects the race to be far more difficult than qualifying. Gasly believes it will take some smart racing and defensive strategy to hold off rivals, especially with doubts lingering over their long-run pace. Despite this, he praised the team for executing well in qualifying under pressure and said that delivering when it mattered most was encouraging.

Asked if he was confident enough that he could maximise his position for a top 10 result in the race, Pierre Gasly said:

“I mean we know in Silverstone, we know for our cars, no need to explain why. It’s not gonna be, you know, our favorite track of the year. So I know tomorrow is gonna be tough and Sunday we struggle a bit more. But you know, from what we expected and where we thought we would start the race, now I’m actually starting in the point, so anything's possible, I know, I'm probably gonna spend most of the race looking in my mirrors and having to try to find a creative way to fight the guys around me. But I'm ready for it and I mean for now I'm just very happy for the team because it looked to be very very difficult for us and we managed to get it done when it mattered.”

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Pierre Gasly believes that the qualifying performance lap in the British GP was a one-off

Pierre Gasly was surprised to secure a top-10 result in qualifying ahead of the British GP. The Frenchman admitted that it was the kind of performance that only comes around occasionally. He felt that the team executed qualifying very well and credited the setup changes made after FP3 for making a positive difference. Gasly acknowledged that the car’s overall pace didn’t suggest a Q3 appearance was possible, but he was pleased with the outcome. He singled out his final lap in Q2 as his best of the session and a key factor in reaching the top ten.

Asked where he found that lap time to make it to the top 10, Pierre Gasly replied:

“Yeah, honestly it was one of these laps that comes in a year that’s, looking at all the free practices, we thought we'd be knocked out after Q1 because it's been extremely difficult for some reason. We struggled so much throughout the whole weekend and we're really not comfortable with it. But we tried a lot and try to stick to our guns, just focus on our package and try to get the best out of it. And starting Q1 wasn't great, we made a few changes with what we could and when it mattered like that last lap in Q1 managed to just get to Q2 on P15 and that lap in Q2 was very, very, I was very happy with it."

"Like just every corner absolutely on the edge and came perfectly and just got through it in P10. So I think it was just every time like a few hundredths. But looking at the pace I would have never and we would have never imagined to get there. So very strong job from all the team, execution, tires, one of the most setup changes we made after p3 and yeah I'm very pleased.”

Pierre Gasly has currently scored 11 points for Alpine and remains their only points-scoring driver. His teammate, Franco Colapinto, crashed out in Q1 and is yet to register a point for the French outfit. Despite Gasly’s efforts, Alpine sits at the bottom of the constructors’ standings in tenth place, with the midfield battle becoming increasingly competitive as the season progresses.