Pierre Gasly was setting lofty goals for qualifying after a strong Friday at the French Grand Prix.
The Rouen native finished P5 and P7 respectively in both practice sessions at Paul Ricard as a significant AlphaTauri upgrade showed early promise.
And whether it was the heat or optimism driving his thoughts, Gasly was perhaps over-ambitious with his goals for Saturday.
“Hopefully we can fight for pole position, we’ll see about that,” said the 26-year-old.
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“I mean, if we can fight with these two guys on my right [Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton], I’ll be happy. That’s the target.”
Certainly, with the upgrades, Gasly looks set to battle for points at his home race, which would still be a welcome result having failed to finish in the top 10 since his best finish of the year in Baku.
“I don’t think we are missing much,” he said, “but it’s extremely tight in the midfield and two or three tenths can move you up and down like seven or eight positions at the moment.
loving the sleek look of @PierreGASLY’s helmet this weekend! ? pic.twitter.com/6uAXOC3JVg
— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) July 22, 2022
“We’ve just been slowly sliding towards the back of the midfield in the last couple of races and hopefully these upgrades can put us back in the fight and boost this important weekend personally on my side.
“I’m extremely looking forward to seeing what it brings in what we were going to be able to achieve.”
