Pierre Gasly followed up his Sao Paulo podium with an impressive lap in qualifying to put himself third for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
No one would have been expecting Alpine to repeat their heroics of Brazil but they have given themselves a chance to do just that with Gasly out-qualified only by Carlos Sainz and polesitter George Russell.
How Pierre Gasly shocked the world in Las Vegas
While Russell and Sainz’s pace was expected, Pierre Gasly and the Alpine team were the positive surprise of the qualifying session in Las Vegas.
The Enstone-based team has found great momentum since the last Brazilian GP but what were Alpine’s secrets to finish ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, among others?
Gasly took third place in qualifying, surprising big names such as Charles Leclerc, Verstappen and Norris in his final Q3 attempt but it was a result that was not entirely out of the blue. The French driver went from strength to strength throughout the session, already hinting in Q2 that his lap times were to be taken seriously.
However, it was in the final stages of Q3 when the Alpine driver made everyone at home and in the Las Vegas grandstands get up from their seats when he managed to get into provisional P2 behind Carlos Sainz. George Russell improved his time again to take pole, but Gasly’s job was already well done.
What did Alpine find in Las Vegas to be as competitive as it was last year when the French driver qualified P5? Let’s analyse the telemetry data of his lap against those of Verstappen and Russell to understand.
Gasly’s lap was spectacular. Without a small correction that cost him between +0.3s and +0.4s at Turn 3, he probably could have even fought with Sainz for P2.
The Alpine was the fastest car on track today with a low downforce set-up and the help in Gasly’s case in Q3 of the slipstreaming effect of Sainz who finished the lap just a few seconds ahead of him. But this low downforce set-up also allowed the car to be sufficiently competitive in the low-speed corners.
In Sector 2, the slowest of the three sectors on the Las Vegas street circuit, Gasly was only +0.083s slower than Russell. The biggest loss was in the first sector due to a mistake that caused him to lose traction before the straight between turns 4 and 5.
Compared to Verstappen, we can see again that the mistake in turn 3 was very damaging in terms of lap time.
But nevertheless, the difference in straight line speed not only in top speed but also in acceleration due to Alpine’s much lower drag package and a very acceptable performance in braking and low speeds has allowed Gasly to be ahead of the Dutch driver.
Despite the lower track temperatures than in 2023, the evolution of the cars has been remarkable for especially four teams: McLaren who in 2023 saw in Las Vegas both their cars eliminated in Q1, VCARB with a surprising performance of Yuki Tsunoda, Mercedes taking pole with George Russell and Gasly with his amazing P3.
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Carlos Sainz came close to pole for Ferrari, but was unable to beat Russell who has been in great form as has Gasly all weekend. Saturday will be an interesting day with tyre management and the great overtaking ability on the long straights of Las Vegas.
Obviously, the podium is looks too ambitious a target for Alpine, but keeping P6 in the Constructors’ World Championship against Haas and VCARB before reaching the final two races seems very possible seeing how good the Alpine A524 is performing at this circuit.
The Enstone-based team has been able to find the sweet spot of their set-up and the optimal operating window of their tyres in a great way, and that, in a race where graining problems are expected, is crucial to be confident with the strategy and chances that might appear during the 50 lap long race.
Read next: Winners and losers from qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix