Pierre Gasly labelled the British Grand Prix as “by far” his strongest event of 2019, though expressed frustration at missing out on a maiden Formula 1 podium.
Gasly had struggled through the opening races and was substantially off the pace in France and Austria, coming home a lapped seventh at the preceding round.
But Gasly expressed confidence at turning around his form and at Silverstone he was significant more competitive.
Gasly dropped to sixth at the start but passed Sebastian Vettel and moved into fourth through the Safety Car period.
Gasly was overhauled by Charles Leclerc and dropped to sixth, but was promoted to fourth once more when Vettel hit the back of Max Verstappen in the fight for the podium.
“By far the best weekend of the year so we can be pleased,” said Gasly.
“There were quite a lot of things going on after Austria, a lot of meetings with the team checking the whole weekend and how to improve things.
“We made a lot of changes and I am pleased that from the first session we could see the big step forward.
“It was a strong Friday, strong Saturday and strong Sunday. I just enjoyed the whole weekend a lot more so I think we can be pleased with the step we made.”
Leclerc moved past Gasly around the outside of Village, securing the inside line for The Loop, and the Red Bull driver admitted he was surprised by his opponent’s move.
“It was good, I didn’t expect him to roll the speed on the outside and I could have gone wider or tried something different,” he said.
“In the end without DRS for a couple of laps it was putting quite a lot of pressure on and at that time he was on fresher tyres.
“I am pleased with fourth place but of course as a competitive guy I am a bit disappointed to miss out on the podium by a couple of seconds.
“I think we need to look at the whole picture and the whole weekend which was a big step forward.”
