Pierre Gasly says getting into a “different zone” allowed him to focus on driving despite his illness at the Mexican Grand Prix.
After a strong Friday, the Frenchman was nowhere to be seen for much of Saturday, only emerging for the final 20 minutes of practice and then qualifying at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Thankfully, he was able to compete and continued Toro Rosso’s impressive weekend by making Q3 but it certainly wasn’t his most enjoyable day at a racetrack.
“I didn’t sleep much [on Friday night],” Gasly revealed via Crash.net. “There’s a virus going round, quite a lot of people are sick. I just got it.
“It wasn’t a great feeling this morning, but I just tried to rest all day long and to do the job when it mattered.
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“I don’t really know where it came from. I felt pretty bad but it’s starting to get better,” he added.
“Once you get the adrenaline and the speed and you know you have to do the job, you switch to a different zone.
“In terms of concentration, it’s a bit tougher. I was still able to do a good job, but for sure I wasn’t in my best shape.”
While P10 was certainly a good result in the circumstances, whether it is the ideal place to start is another matter as Gasly will start on very fragile soft tyres while those behind have free choice.
“This was the risk, but at the same time, we don’t have the pace to fight with McLaren,” he claimed.
“I think ninth and 10th was the best we could get. We tried with the prime on the first run in Q2, but the time difference was too big.
“You can’t play games slowing down before the line. We need to see if it will be a disadvantage or if we can manage to make it work.”