In an aggressive move destined to help his pace in Sunday's race Pierre Gasly has taken a substantial amount of downforce off his Toro STR12.
The Red Bull junior will line up for his fourth race this afternoon in Brazil, but it hasn't been an easy baptism of fire for Gasly who has already had his fair share of engine troubles since joining the grid in Malaysia.
Gasly qualified P17 but will start a spot lower as the result of another painful engine penalty. The Frenchman has therefore chosen a low downforce configuration which should help his top speed but could make his car a handful in the twisty sections of Interlagos.
"We knew at the beginning of the weekend we would start at the back of the grid, so we tried to mainly focus on race simulations.
"I was pretty happy with the long runs even if we knew it wasn’t ideal for qualifying: in terms of downforce we put less than what we would have wanted to maximise our overtaking opportunities during the race. Hopefully it will pay off in the race."
It's Gasly's first visit to Brazil, but he's already a big fan of Interlagos' challenging layout.
"The track is so exciting! There’s so much rhythm in the second and third sectors…
"It’s really good to drive, but the most important thing is to be competitive tomorrow for the race, and hopefully have some good overtakes during the race."
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