Pierre Gasly aims to be "ready to grab every opportunity" that emerges during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Frenchman continued his impressive form at Imola, following up his fourth in qualifying last year with fifth on the grid for the 2021 race.
Certainly, the AlphaTauri driver will be hoping for better fortune on race day, after a coolant leak caused an early retirement in 2020, but the pace of the AT02 was still impressive.
“It was very, very good,” said Gasly via Formula1.com. “I’m really happy because the whole qualifying session was a bit harder than in Bahrain as Alpine, Aston Martin and McLaren picked up the pace.
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“We looked to be a bit slower than the McLaren and just managed to put the lap together. It was a really clean lap to get that P5.
"The gaps were extremely close. We are a couple of hundredths behind Charles [Leclerc] in the Ferrari and three/four-tenths from the top guys. It’s a great achievement and we’re in a good position for tomorrow.”
Much like Leclerc, who starts fourth, Gasly identified McLaren as the main competition on race day.
“Yeah, definitely,” the Italian GP winner said. “Looking at the GPS, they were able to carry some speed in medium-speed corners which was pretty impressive.
"I think in Q3, they probably didn’t put it all together. We managed to take advantage of that. Now we have to keep them behind tomorrow.”
And looking ahead on the grid, Gasly admits he wouldn't mind Lewis Hamilton and the two Red Bulls getting stuck into each other.
“We will prepare for everything,” he said on his podium chances. “If the guys in front want to battle it out and make a bit of space for us, that will be more than welcome.
“But we need to be prepared for all kind of conditions. There might be a bit of rain, there might be a bit of drama. There might be a lot of things [but] that’s racing. Our job is to be ready to grab every opportunity.”
