#AlphaTauri – R12 PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX – SATURDAY 24-10-2020

Pierre Gasly (AT01-01, Car 10)
Third Practice Session – Best lap: 1:16.930, pos. 4th, 24 laps
Qualifying – Best lap: (Q1) 1:17.209, (Q2) 1:17.367, (Q3) 1:17.803, pos. 9th
“The team did an amazing job to get the car ready today. They barely slept last night as they had to rebuild the chassis, and everything worked fine, so a big thanks to them for their effort! We were very competitive in FP3, but I’m a bit disappointed with Qualifying because we were fast all weekend. We saw that when there is no wind the car is working very well, but when it picks up it becomes more difficult, which was the case in Q2 and Q3. I’m happy with P9 but I think we could have been slightly higher up on the grid. It’s a new track to race on tomorrow, the last time we were on a new track in Mugello a lot of things happened, so it will be important that we grab the opportunities that come our way because there might be a few – it should be exciting!”

Daniil Kvyat (AT01-02, Car 26)
Third Practice Session – Best lap: 1:17.720, pos. 12th, 29 laps
Qualifying – Best lap: (Q1) 1:17.841, (Q2) 1:17.728, pos. 13th
“It was a difficult Qualifying session and I don’t think I had much more confidence to push the car more today, it was moving around a lot and it was sensitive to the wind. Every time I tried to push a bit more I was going off the line, so I didn’t have much more than that. I haven’t driven in difficult conditions like these in quite a while, I think it will be an interesting and complicated race, so there will be opportunities for us to get into the points again.”

Claudio Balestri (Chief Engineer – Vehicle Performance)
“During Friday practice we were not really able to optimize our cars due to the track being quite green and slippery. The balance was hard to find, so we started today with many unanswered questions. As a result, we planned a very busy FP3 with an intense programme targeted to evaluate different loads and compounds across both sides of the garage to prepare our cars for Quali and the Race in the best possible way. During this morning’s session, our efforts were repaid and we were able to set some competitive lap times on the Options, gathering useful data regarding tyre degradation which are very important for Sunday’s race. Our Qualifying session this afternoon was not an easy one with a lot of traffic, especially in Q1, and an increasing wind throughout Q2 and Q3, but despite these difficulties, we have shown a good level of performance. Pierre was able to make it to Q3 finishing in P9 and Daniil qualified P13. Our attention now moves on race preparation, expecting it to be not an easy one as it’s the first time Formula 1 races on this track. However, our target remains very clear: to get into the points with both cars.”