Pierre Gasly upheld in qualifying on Saturday the form he has displayed since the start of the Turkish Grand Prix weekend, with the AlphaTauri driver concluding his day fifth in the pecking order in Q3.
Gasly had topped the timesheet in the morning's final practice, but the Frenchman rued the damp conditions in FP3 that didn't allow him to validate a series of changes undertaken overnight by AlphaTauri to try and improve his car's pace and behaviour in the dry.
However, qualifying quickly dispelled his doubts.
"This one felt very good because yesterday, I wasn't happy with the car - a lot of understeer, I struggled a lot to drive the way I wanted," he explained.
"I requested a lot of changes overnight, but this morning we could not really confirm in the wet whether it was good for the dry conditions.
"It turned out that the car was a lot better, like really good today. Really pleased with the work from the team and it gave me a competitive car.
"I've enjoyed every single lap out there and 3rd in Q1, 4th in Q2 and 5th in Q3, so really pleased to be fighting for these positions."
©AlphaTauri
Gasly will launch his race on Sunday from P4 thanks to Lewis Hamlilton's 10-spot grid demotion.
Asked whether he would feature in tomorrow's race as a natural ally for Red Bull's Max Verstappen and put in an extra effort to keep the Dutchman's title rival behind, Gasly reckoned he wouldn't make his AlphaTauri as wide as usual.
"It's pretty much what I try every weekend," he said. "In Sochi I had Bottas behind me for 30 laps. I'll try to do my race and defend as much as I can."
The 25-year-old Frenchman is enjoying his best season in F1 since his full-time debut with Toro Rosso in 2018, although he prefers to shy away from praising himself.
"You know, as a driver and also as a person, I'm not really someone that will say I'm satisfied with what I do," he said, assessing his campaign year-to-date.
"I think I either do the job I'm supposed to do or either I'm not performing well enough. There are always things you can improve.
"It's clearly been my most successful season as an overall package: consistency, extracting the maximum out of the car, in the wet in the dry on Saturday and Sunday.
"I try to keep the battle in the championship alive with Alpine, in number six, a couple of points behind them, and try to do my best to give these guys the best result in the teams championship.
"Overall, I think I've made quite a good step with the experience and knowing the team a bit better. [There are] Always things to improve, but overall it's been a good year."
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