Gasly expects turbulent air to play an important role in Qatar

Ahead of the penultimate round of the current season, Pierre Gasly fears that the turbulent air will play a vital role at the Qatar Grand Prix as he expects cars to struggle from the dirty air in the long-radius medium- and high-speed corners.

After his sensational podium finish in Brazil, Pierre Gasly displayed a surprise performance in the qualifying session at the Las Vegas Grand prix to secure third place on the grid for Saturday’s race.

However, his race ended prematurely, when disaster struck for Gasly, who let out a cry of “no power” while smoke exited the rear of his car. The reliability issue meant that the Frenchman was forced to return to the pit lane and park up outside the Alpine garage – dealing a blow to their constructors’ efforts.

Ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, Alpine driver Pierre Gasly is looking forward to driving on the Lusail track, but he fears that the high-speed nature of the track can make it difficult to follow other cars.

“I’m really happy to be heading back to Qatar this weekend and to get back racing so quickly after a difficult Las Vegas. The Lusail International Circuit is a high-speed and flowing track which I like to drive a lot.

“There are overtaking opportunities with the long main straight, but it can be difficult to follow cars through the high-speed corners for the rest of the lap. We will look to carry over our pace from the previous rounds and compete hard for points across the weekend.

“As it’s the final Sprint weekend of the season, it will be important to come out of the blocks quickly on Friday morning as every session counts straight away. Every year at Qatar, I’ve qualified well, including during the Sprint, and I’m looking forward to continuing our Q3-streak and carrying that form into the race.”

His team-mate Esteban Ocon is looking forward to his penultimate race with Alpine, pinning hopes on the Enstone-based outfit’s impressive performance from last year’s race at Lusail.

“I am looking forward to returning to Qatar. The conditions will be very different to those we have just had in Las Vegas and the change in schedule from 2023 should mean that the conditions will be improved from last season.

“As the final Sprint weekend of the year it will mean that every moment on track will count so the key will be to make the most of Friday’s Free Practice to set us up for the weekend.

“We had a good result last year, qualifying eighth and finishing the race in seventh, so the aim will be to replicate this and try to fight for points in the penultimate round of the season.”