Pierre Gasly hailed an "incredible" result for Alpine in qualifying for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix which will see him line up in P3 on the grid on Saturday night.
Gasly had looked strong in Thursday's practice session which saw him finish the night in sixth. He was still in the top ten in final practice and was eighth in the first round of qualifying before rising to fourth in Q2.
He did even better than that in the all-important top ten qualifying round and managed to split the two Ferrari drivers by going third fastest, 0.352s off the pace of pole winner George Russell.
“I’m very happy to qualify in the top three today," he said afterward. "The lap felt incredible and it was one of those when you cross the line and you know that everything was thrown at it.
"Honestly, we didn’t think we would be able to achieve a top three in the quali," he admitted. “It was an incredible lap especially around this track - you’re flirting with the walls everywhere.
"A lot of adrenaline, a lot of excitement," he added. "When they came up on the radio telling me we’re lining up third tomorrow - it’s just amazing. Really happy.”
The start of Q3 had been delayed because of a big accident for Williams' Franco Colapinto. “We had to wait so long before that Q3. I just wanted to get going,” he said. “We had a good first run.
"We had one set of new softs for Q3 so it was kind of a last lap shot, plenty of adrenaline, and I’m just pleased we put it together.
“That last lap was the one that mattered, with a new tyre. I really managed to nail it. The car felt great," he said. "It’s an incredible period for the team following the double podium in Brazil. Hopefully we can stay up there tomorrow.
"This track is all about fine margins and it’s tricky with the low downforce with a lot of sliding, but I just had a lot of fun out there," he commented.
The result is Gasly’s best qualifying performance since he made F1 bow back in 2017. It comes after a difficult start top 2024 and is testament to the upgrades that the team introduced in Austin last month.
The team's double podium result in Brazil with podium third has moved Alpine up to sixth place in the constructors championship ahead of Haas and RB, and Gasly hopes to continue the momentum this weekend in Vegas.
"Tomorrow, we will give it everything, but we know where our fight is," he said. "It’s a tough race for tyre degradation and graining. We have to stay on top of it as last year at this race it cost us.
"We’ve worked hard as a team to understand it and there is more hard work tonight to prepare ourselves. We will go for it tomorrow with the target of taking some points.”
Team principal Oliver Oakes added: "Pierre did a perfect job to put the car on the second row and it puts us in a strong position for tomorrow’s race.
"It’s encouraging to again reach Q3 for a fourth time in a row, but we know anything can happen in the race and the points are handed out tomorrow.
Gasly's team mate Esteban Ocon narrowly missed the final cut in qualifying and will start tomorrow's race from 11th place on the grid.
"Our goal is to get both cars in the points tomorrow," said Oakes. "Similar to last year we expect conditions will be tricky with the lower temperatures and tyre management. We need to analyse how we can get the most out of our strategy.”
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