Pierre Gasly is not expecting to start Saturday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole position as he did at Monza, despite the two circuits sharing some of the same characteristics.
The Frenchman, though, believes Alpine will be in the fight to be the best of the midfield runners.
Pierre Gasly has ruled out ‘Monza 2.0’ at Baku
Formula 1 is racing on the streets of Baku this weekend, with the Grand Prix taking place on Saturday as Sunday is Remembrance Day in Azerbaijan.
Gasly has been tipped to claim a second pole position for the season, just three weeks after he put his Alpine A526 on pole at the Italian Grand Prix.
The Baku circuit and Monza share some characteristics, including high-speed straights that reward slipstreaming.
That’s how Gasly secured his Monza pole, the Frenchman using the slipstream from the cars ahead to shave vital tenths off his lap time.
He, though, isn’t predicting “a Monza 2.0” this weekend.
“Well, as much confidence as it could give us for sure after the pole,” he told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.
“So yeah, I mean we know it’s a quite unique track in terms of like characteristic and what you need around here. So the car is pretty much setup in a similar way as Monza.
“It’s a lot more corners, but still I’m quite hopeful that we should be competitive.
“To the extent of doing a Monza 2.0? Probably not.
“But for sure, at least be up there and fight for best of the midfield.”
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Gasly, who crashed last year in qualifying and was one of six drivers to bring out the red flags, acknowledges that Baku is a unique challenge given its long straight and tight, twisty corners.
This year, though, there’s even more of a challenge.
Not only will the drivers have to manage their battery harvesting and deployment, but strong winds are forecast for Friday’s qualifying.
“I forgot the 50 kph of wind on Friday,” he said.
“I think it’s quite unique. Like from T1 or let’s say T3 all the way to the last corner it’s very twisty. You recharge a lot, you harvest a lot, and then after you have that insanely long straight, which, to be fair, we need to try and see what it’s going to be like.
“I know what I felt in the sim, and to be fair, I think it was alright in terms of deployment and speed trace – not to the extent of what we had before but let’s say still decent.
“But yeah, it’s gonna be a challenge because if you’re lacking any battery starting your lap out of the last corner, or while racing, and you’re down a couple percent starting opening your your lap. Well, you’re gonna pay a massive price all the way on the back straight.
“So, terms of calibration, etc. for sure, it’s gonna, and also whatever we can manage inside the car, it’s going to be important to really be on top of it.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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