Gasly rues 'horrible start' and lost positions in Sao Paulo sprint

AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly lost the benefit of his strong performance in qualifying at the outset of Saturday's sprint event after a painfully slow launch off the grid.

Gasly lined up fifth for the 24-lap sprint that seals everyone's grid slot for race day, but when the lights went off, the AlphaTauri charger was immediately swallowed by three rivals.

"It was a horrible start," admitted the Frenchman. "I think my reaction time was good but after I started to go on throttle I had a lot of wheelspin.

"Lost three positions up to Turn 1 and after that I tried to keep up the pace with the Ferraris and Norris but we were just slower.

"We dropped back slowly and then with the soft tyre and at the end it was really really hard. We'll try and see what we can do better for tomorrow."

• Sao Paulo GP: Saturday's action in pictures

Gasly clocked in P8 but will gain a spot on Sunday's grid thanks to Lewis Hamilton's engine change and subsequent five-place demotion."

Queried on his strategy for race day, Gasly alluded to the possibility of relying on the more durable harder Pirelli compound at some point in the race.

"We haven't used them yet, so we've got two sets for tomorrow if we need them," he said.

"We'll see, we start in seventh position with Lewis' penalty so we'll see what we can do.

"As you know, it’s never over until the chequered flag, so we’ll look at the strategy tonight and do everything we can to come back stronger tomorrow."

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