Alpine ace Pierre Gasly qualified P11 for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix but caught the eye of Sky Sports F1 pundit Anthony Davidson in between the sessions on Saturday night.
It was two different stories in the Alpine garage at the Lusail International Circuit as Esteban Ocon qualified P20 and last for the Qatar GP. But only 0.012 seconds would deny Gasly a Q3 appearance as Sergio Perez scrapped through to the final stage en route to finishing with P9.
Ocon set the slowest lap of the session with his 1:22.714 in Q1, whilst Gasly advanced to Q2 with a 1:21.843. Further improvement from the latter to post a 1:21.437 was nearly enough to then reach Q3. But Perez saw both Red Bull drivers move into the top 10 at Gasly’s expense.
Pierre Gasly impresses Anthony Davidson by checking data during Qatar GP qualifying
A mid-session check of the 28-year-old’s data traces may have been vital for Gasly finding 0.406 seconds between his laps in Q1 and Q2. The Frenchman also impressed Davidson with his desire to see where Gasly could improve around the 5.419km (3.367m) Lusail track.
Davidson spotted from Gasly’s on-board camera the Rouen native checking his speed traces and steering input. The Alpine star went old-school with paper copies showing his data after ending Q1 with the 10th fastest time and only 0.602 seconds from the overall best lap time.
“Someone who’s been working really hard and is driving extremely well is Gasly,” Davidson said on Sky Sports F1 (30/11, 18:45). “I thought this was interesting, [his] head buried in the data in between runs. [He] is really studying what is going on.
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“You’ve got the speed traces… The driver’s very much looking at the data there to see where [he can gain] overlayed to himself. But it’s that kind of level of detail, steering traces, all this stuff the driver’s looking into to maximise their performance.”
Kevin Magnussen’s Q2 gains cost Pierre Gasly a Q3 appearance in Lusail
Gasly’s mid-session check of his data that impressed Davidson may have helped the Alpine star to improve by 0.406s between Q1 and Q2, plus qualify P11 for the Qatar Grand Prix. But a lot of drivers also found chunks of a lap time between the first and second stages in Lusail.
Red Bull racer Max Verstappen made the biggest of improvement between Q1 and Q2 as he slashed 0.892s out. Oscar Piastri, Zhou Guanyu, Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Lewis Hamilton and Kevin Magnussen even improved by 0.700s, 0.602s, 0.595s, 0.593s, 0.542s and 0.504s.
Haas pilot Magnussen improving his lap time by 0.504s between Q1 and Q2 at the Qatar GP compared to Gasly’s 0.406s gain was the costliest for the Alpine ace. The Dane was the 11th fastest driver in Q1, when the Frenchman was P10, but he then shot up to ninth place in Q2.
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