Pierre Gasly was encouraged by the pace in his AlphaTauri on Thursday after finishing inside the top seven during both free practice sessions.
The Frenchman was particularly impressive this morning when he set the fourth fastest time and said afterwards that he felt “confident in the car”.
Gasly has had an impressive start to the year, reaching Q3 at three of the opening four weekends and scoring points at three races so far.
Currently he sits 10th in the drivers’ championship, but would love to improve upon a best finish of P7 so far.
Looking back on a promising day, Gasly said that while the afternoon session was slightly harder than morning, the signs are good for the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
“It’s been a very good day for us,” he said. “In terms of pace it was great and this morning was a strong way to start here in Monaco – I felt confident in the car and could push hard.
“This afternoon we finished within the top ten, so we’re still pretty pleased with that, but it was a lot harder in the car. Hopefully I can work with the guys over the next day to improve in the areas where we are struggling but generally, we are quite happy with it.
“Monaco is so unique – in terms of grip and it’s also very bumpy – so we need to find out what works best with our package to make it work well around here. We have a good baseline but hopefully we can continue to improve ahead of qualifying, as we know how crucial it is to qualify well around these streets.”
See the full Monaco Grand Prix schedule here.