Pierre Gasly 'got the taste' for F1 front row after Qatar sampler

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Gasly 'got the taste' for F1 front row after Qatar sampler

Gasly was promoted to the front row in Qatar after Verstappen and Bottas were hit with penalties

Sam Hall

Wednesday 1 December 2021 16:45

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Pierre Gasly is keen to return to the front row of a Formula 1 starting grid as soon as possible after 'getting the taste for it' in Qatar.

Gasly has been a thorn in the sides of McLaren and Ferrari this season, regularly placing his AlphaTauri between the teams vying for third in the constructors' standings.

In Qatar, however, the Frenchman outqualified the combined four cars of both teams to set the fourth-fastest time, a result that saw him promoted to the front row when both Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas were struck with penalties.

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Although the race was one to forget for Gasly, he is keen for a swift return to the front of the starting pack.

"It was great to be on the front row again, the first time since I raced in Super Formula in Japan in 2017, and being there alongside Lewis was very cool," said Gasly.

"I hope there will be more of those moments in the future. Even though I was there slightly by default, we have come close a few times this year and it was a good experience. I got a taste for it!"

Looking ahead to the weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Gasly conceded to expecting a "complicated" experience.

"Judging from what I saw on the simulator, Saudi will be extremely quick, with a large number of very high-speed corners, some of them blind," assessed the AlphaTauri driver.

"I think it’s going to be very complicated from a driving point of view and there will be the extra challenge of the track surface being completely new. No cars have ever raced on it, there will be no rubber down and probably some oil will still be coming out of the tarmac, which is what normally happens at a new circuit.

"So, we are looking at a street circuit with quite low grip, which is a new challenge as no one has any data from the track.

"But for our part, we showed in Qatar that we can adapt fairly quickly to a new situation, running near the front immediately from the Friday."