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Gasly happy with performance on Friday at COTA

Gasly happy with performance on Friday at COTA

20-10-2018 14:50
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Jake Williams-Smith

Pierre Gasly says he was pleased with how things went for Toro Rosso on Friday. Both sessions were rain-affected however Gasly shone in the second session, finishing P2 behind Lewis Hamilton with his new aero and power unit upgrades.

Speaking after FP2, Gasly explained that changes made between the first and second practice session had been successful and he was happy with how his car was handling in the tricky conditions.

“It wasn’t super exciting, we spent a lot of time out of the car with the conditions. But in the end it was pretty productive for us compared to the others,” he said.

“This morning was a bit tricky, I wasn’t so comfortable with the car, the tyres, and it was a pretty difficult balance. But then we made some changes for the afternoon – and the car was fantastic.

“It was good changes from the team. I felt confident and (we showed) good pace, it’s always nice to see us on top even though all the cars didn’t run. Still the feeling with the car was really good. It's my first time in Austin and I really enjoyed it.”

Despite the strong showing in FP2, Gasly will be starting at the back of the grid regardless of where he qualifies after taking a fresh power unit for the race with Honda's new upgrades said to be worth around half a second in lap time.

“We saw in Suzuka it was a really positive improvement - for sure it’s not ideal we are going to start P20 and P19 at the back of the grid.

“But I think with the new spec we can clearly fight the others a lot more than we used to before. It’s always nice when you start from the back, because you know you’re going to have an exciting race, a lot of battles.”