Pierre Gasly described his Q3 lap at the Dutch Grand Prix as “really on the edge” as he equalled his best qualifying performance in Formula 1.
Gasly finished behind only Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and the two Mercedes drivers, upon Formula 1’s first visit to Zandvoort in 36 years.
“Honestly it was insane,” he said. “Like the lap in Q3 it was really on the edge, I had a big snap in Turn 7 in the high speed, went through there like flat out in the last lap but overheated the tyre so knew I would pay the price after that.
“And after Turn 10 it was the same, lots of snaps, I arrived a bit sideways into Turns 11 and 12, same last corner, big snap in the middle, it was very on the edge.
“But I think it’s been a long time since I enjoyed driving an F1 car really on the edge on such a track, it’s just amazing.”
Gasly conceded that securing a spot on the second row of the grid came as a surprise.
“For us it’s like our pole position let’s say, especially as it hasn’t been an easy weekend until now,” he said.
“Going into quali we weren’t confident about our pace and we just managed to find some extra time just now in this session and were always very competitive, so I’m extremely happy to qualify fourth.”
